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By Rashika Fazali
Finding a fully-equipped, clean private hospital outside Colombo is what one never thinks of as the majority always comes to Colombo for diagnosis and treatment. New Philip Hospitals (NPH) Private Limited situated in Kalutara has journeyed since 1955, battling amongst pioneering hospitals in Colombo.
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| NPH Chairperson and Managing Director Deshmanya Indrani Fernando |
NPH Chairperson and Managing Director Deshmanya Indrani Fernando told the Daily FT how she revived a failing hospital with much courage, its state today, and medical tourism.
Reviving NPH
Fernando revealed that the hospital fell in 1980 when the founder, her father-in-law died. After he died, from 1980 to 1994, the family ran it. However, the then Philip Memorial as it was known was falling apart day by day and they soon made plans to sell the hospital. Fernando stated that she did not like the idea one bit as her father-in-law would have fought to keep the hospital going.
What she did later shocked her family and friends. She revealed that she bought the hospital from her husband’s family in 1994 and vowed to restore the hospital. From a partnership company she made it a limited liability company and went on to get a loan and working capital from DFCC.
“They were scared. They thought the business could not be revived, but they gave it to me anyway with a high interest rate of 23%. This was one bold decision I took at that time.”
From that point onwards, she took a lot of bold decisions, like renovating the falling hospital, building a newer hospital in Kalutara, and also another bigger one, which is the current residence of NPH.
NPH’s 300 staff and Rs. 700 m worth of equipment
The NPH staff comprises 32 consultants and 50 nurses totalling over 300 staff, mentioned Fernando. “At any given time, we have five in-house doctors and two permanent physicians, and for the rest I depend on Government doctors,” explained Fernando.
She also added that the consultants at NPH do not have a maximum number of patients they see for a day although she addressed a major issue in the 
healthcare sector: The availability of consultants.
“We can do any surgery, but not surgeries such as heart and brain surgery as we can’t do it out of Colombo due to the unavailability of consultants and the return on investment, which is very low.”
The three-storey hospital deals in many areas such as cardiology, phaco eye surgeries, laparoscopic surgery and orthopaedic, just to name a few. It is also equipped with 75 beds, three wards of 10 beds each, 10 luxury rooms, three theatres, an ICU, an OPD, a labour room with four rooms, a paediatric unit and even contains digital x-raying – the only hospital beyond Colombo to boast this feature.
Commenting on medical equipment in the healthcare sector, Fernando mentioned that equipment is very important for her. “We are dealing with lives, so I acquire the best equipment either from Germany, England or Japan.”
NPH alone has machinery worth of over Rs. 700 million. Fernando revealed that they spend around Rs. 8 to 10 million per month on acquiring medicinal drugs.
Emphasising on NPH’s charges, Fernando explained: “Our expenses are the same as Colombo, but our charges are 20% to 25% lower than Colombo. I make sure to keep it low as this is what most people can afford.”
Service to the people
She stated that Philip is an institution where they give a lot of service. “Our pharmacy is open 24 hours. It is a loss to the company, but it helps people. We have people who come from all over,” asserted Fernando.
In addition, NPH gives a lot of free treatment as well. She explained that they don’t charge the poor people and the clergy.
“My advice to my doctors and my staff is ‘don’t bother about money because we are dealing with lives; do whatever you can and save the life,’” said Fernando. She further added that once the patient is okay, they transfer them to the General hospital.
30 NPH centres
Fernando revealed that they have 30 centres around Kalutara and a little beyond Kalutara. These centres vary from Early Child Development (ECD), to laboratory collection centres and diagnostic centres.
NPH also has a nursing school in Kalutara where the first batch of private nurses has already graduated.
Patients from Colombo and beyond
Fernando explained about the healthcare trend on how people used to always go to Colombo for treatment. Today, the trend has changed.
“We have got quite a few patients who have gone to big hospitals in Colombo. A couple of days ago we had a lady from Mount Lavinia who went to all the Colombo hospitals. She was not happy and her sickness was not even diagnosed. She had heard of Philip and contacted us.”
Fernando spoke to this lady and found out the difference between the hospitals in Colombo and NPH: “She said she felt very welcomed and she got that warmth from the staff like she was important to them. She said that the doctors were very good.”
Plans for the future
Fernando revealed that she is planning to open another hospital – an emergency hospital close to the highway in Kalutara and the General Hospital. She also plans to include a 24 hour ambulance service with a medical team of doctors. Fernando is hoping to start construction by the end of this month and hopes to complete the hospital in seven months.
She is also in the process of opening a nursing school in Jaffna which will offer a three-year course. “There is a huge demand for nurses in Sri Lanka and worldwide.”
Medical tourism
Fernando also intends to boost medical tourism in Sri Lanka. She stated that she is trying to come up with a way for foreigners to combine leisure and medical visiting.
However, the problem today in Sri Lanka is that many foreigners who get sick prefer to go back to their country to attend to their medical issues.
Explaining how medical tourism can help the country, she stated: “The country gets foreign exchange in a big way and institutions also earn a lot. I want to tie up with the Tourism Ministry plus a touring company. They have the contacts there.”
– Pix by Lasantha Kumara
