General Hospital Colombo
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The National Hospital of Sri Lanka (sometimes General Hospital) is a
government hospital A public hospital, or government hospital, is a hospital which is government owned and is predominantly funded by the government and operates predominantly off the money that is collected from taxpayers to fund healthcare initiatives. In almost al ...
in
Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...
,
Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...
. Founded in 1864 as the General Hospital, it is the leading hospital in Sri Lanka and is controlled by the
central government A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or deleg ...
. The hospital has 18
intensive care unit An intensive care unit (ICU), also known as an intensive therapy unit or intensive treatment unit (ITU) or critical care unit (CCU), is a special department of a hospital or health care facility that provides intensive care medicine. An inten ...
s and 21
operating theater An operating theater (also known as an Operating Room (OR), operating suite, operation suite, or Operation Theatre (OT)) is a facility within a hospital where Surgery, surgical operations are carried out in an asepsis, aseptic environment. Histo ...
s and 3,404 beds. It employs 7,500 staff of which 1,500 are doctors. The hospital carries out 5,000 major and minor surgeries each month and treats over two million out patients a year. Situated on a 36-acre site, it includes the Dental Institute, Maligawatte Kidney Hospital, Nurse's Training School, Post Basic Nurse's Training School, School of Eco Cardiograph, School of Physiotherapy, School of Radiography and the
University of Colombo The University of Colombo (informally Colombo University or UoC) is a Public University, public research university located primarily in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It is the oldest institution of modern higher education in Sri Lanka. Specialised in t ...
's
Faculty of Medicine A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, professional school, or forms a part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, ...
.


History

In 1817 Deputy Inspector General of Hospitals Charles Farell recommended to the British Governor
Robert Brownrigg General (United Kingdom), General Sir Robert Brownrigg, 1st Baronet, Order of the Bath, GCB (8 February 1758 – 27 April 1833) was an Kingdom of Ireland, Irish-born United Kingdom, British statesman and soldier. He brought the last part of ...
that a hospital for the poor be established. Thus Colombo's first modern hospital was established in 1819 at Prince Street in
Pettah Pettah may refer to: * Pettah of Ahmednagar, a fortified town outside the Fort of Ahmednagar stormed by British soldiers in 1803 during Second Anglo-Maratha War * Pettah, Colombo, a neighborhood in Colombo, Sri Lanka located east of the City cent ...
. The hospital had 100 beds but demand was so high the hospital became overcrowded and a decision was taken to build a news hospital at a 32-acre cinnamon land in Longden Place. Governor
Henry George Ward Sir Henry George Ward Order of St Michael and St George, GCMG (27 February 17972 August 1860) was an English diplomat, politician, and colonial administrator. Early life He was the son of Robert Plumer Ward, Robert Ward (who in 1828 changed hi ...
's administration set aside £3,000 to establish the hospital. The new 200 bed General Hospital opened in 1864. The hospital had 21 wards in 1864. When the
Colombo Medical School Ceylon Medical College was a public university, public medical school in British Ceylon, Ceylon. The college was established in 1870 as the Colombo Medical School. The college was based in Colombo. The college was merged with Ceylon University Coll ...
was established in 1870 it was based at the hospital's female surgical ward. In 1875 Mudaliyar Samson Rajapakse gifted three and a half acres of land on which Colombo Medical School's successor, the
Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo ttps://med.cmb.ac.lk Faculty of Medicine - University of Colombo Official Website Established in 1870 as the Colombo Medical School, the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Colombo, is the second oldest medical school in South Asia. It is c ...
, stands today. The hospital became the first in the country to employ female nurses with the arrival of an English nurse in 1878. The hospital found it difficult to recruit nurses locally so the hospital authorities requested the help of Catholic nuns who served in the hospital from 1886 to 1964. The hospital had 22 wards and 212 beds, 112 for the medical unit and 100 for the surgical unit, in 1885. By 1894 hospital had 24 wards and 280 beds. Longden Place was named Kynsey Road in 1900. The Victoria Memorial Building (eye ward) and the White House (administration building) were opened in 1903 and 1904 respectively. The first
out patient department A clinic (or outpatient clinic or ambulatory care clinic) is a health facility that is primarily focused on the care of outpatients. Clinics can be privately operated or publicly managed and funded. They typically cover the primary care needs ...
was founded in 1910 (now it is the main x-ray unit). Overcrowding at the hospital resulted in an annex being opened at
Ragama Ragama ( ) is a suburb of Gampaha, located in the Gampaha District, Western Province, Sri Lanka. It is governed by the Ja-Ela Divisional Secretariat. History In July 1874 a rail line, known as the Breakwater line, was opened connecting the Har ...
for elderly and chronically-ill patients but a
cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...
outbreak in 1912 resulted in these patients being transferred back to the Kynsey Road site. Governor William Manning opened Merchant Ward (currently Ward No. 15) in October 1918. The Skinner Memorial Ward was established and adjoining it the Gnanasekaram Ward was built in 1924. These two wards are currently known as Ward No. 16.
Physiotherapy Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is a healthcare profession, as well as the care provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through patient education, physical intervention, disease preventio ...
and
rheumatology Rheumatology () is a branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis and management of disorders whose common feature is inflammation in the bones, muscles, joints, and internal organs. Rheumatology covers more than 100 different complex diseases, c ...
units were added in the 1920s A private home on Ward Place was converted into a dental clinic in 1925 and the
radiology Radiology ( ) is the medical specialty that uses medical imaging to diagnose diseases and guide treatment within the bodies of humans and other animals. It began with radiography (which is why its name has a root referring to radiation), but tod ...
unit was established in the administration building in 1926. The Marque Memorial Ward was established in 1938 for the Catholic nun nurses whilst the Coudert Memorial Ward was established in 1941 for Christian clergymen. The Khan Memorial Ward (Ward No. 51) was established in 1939 to treat paediatric orthopaedic patients. Colombo College of Nursing was founded on 9 May 1939. When the
University of Ceylon The University of Ceylon was the only university in Sri Lanka (earlier Ceylon) from 1942 until 1972. It had several constituent campuses at various locations around Sri Lanka. The University of Ceylon Act No. 1 of 1972, replaced it with the Univ ...
was established in 1942, the General Hospital was chosen to be its teaching hospital. Paying wards such as Matapan Ward were established in 1943. 1952 saw the building of hospital kitchens and the first cardiothoracic unit. The hospital's first open-heart surgery took place in 1955. An
electrocardiography Electrocardiography is the process of producing an electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG), a recording of the heart's electrical activity through repeated cardiac cycles. It is an electrogram of the heart which is a graph of voltage versus time of t ...
(ECG) unit was opened on 1 November 1955. The College of Physiotherapy and the School of Radiology, both affiliated with the General Hospital, were founded in 1957. The Bandaranaike Building (administration and surgery) was opened on 2 February 1958 by
Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike (8 January 1899 – 26 September 1959), also known as "The Silver Bell of Asia" (ආසියාවේ රිදී සීනුව), was a Sri Lankan statesman who served as the fourth Prime Minister of ...
. Eye care moved to the newly created Eye Hospital in 1965 and on 1 January 1967 an accident ward was opened in the vacated Victoria Memorial Building by Prime Minister
Dudley Senanayake Dudley Shelton Senanayake (Sinhala language, Sinhala: ඩඩ්ලි ශෙල්ටන් සේනානායක: ; 19 June 1911 – 13 April 1973), was a Sri Lankan wikt:statesman, statesman who thrice served as Prime Minister of C ...
. Ceylon's first
intensive care unit An intensive care unit (ICU), also known as an intensive therapy unit or intensive treatment unit (ITU) or critical care unit (CCU), is a special department of a hospital or health care facility that provides intensive care medicine. An inten ...
was opened in the Surgical Complex by
Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare spending and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental heal ...
E. L. Senanayake on 16 June 1968. A mental health ward (Ward No. 59) was founded in the late 1960s. Plastic surgery was introduced in 1970 in Ward No. 4. The Coronary Care Unit was opened in 1973. The Burn Unit started on 28 October 1974 in Lady de Soysa Ward. In 1979 the Sri Lankan and Finnish governments entered into an agreement to renovate the General Hospital, with 85% of the funding coming from Finns. Numerous projects were carried out as a result of the agreement including the complete refurbishment of the accident, emergency, orthopaedic and trauma units, the establishment of the training unit and laundry, and the building of a new mortuary. The Renal Transplant Unit was opened on 6 May 1987. A new accident ward was opened by
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
Ranasinghe Premadasa Sri Lankabhimanya Ranasinghe Premadasa ( ''Raṇasiṃha Premadāsa''; ''Raṇaciṅka Pirēmatācā''; 23 June 1924 – 1 May 1993) was a Sri Lankan politician and statesman who served as the third President of Sri Lanka from 2 January 1989 unt ...
on 15 March 1991. The Medical Ward Complex was opened by President
Chandrika Kumaratunga Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga (; ; born 29 June 1945), commonly referred to by her initials CBK, is a Sri Lankan politician who served as the fifth President of Sri Lanka, President of Sri Lanka from 12 November 1994 to 19 November 2005. ...
on 1 February 1995. On 31 January 1996 the hospital had to treat 1,200 victims of the
Colombo Central Bank bombing The Central Bank bombing was one of the deadliest attacks carried out by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) during the separatist civil war in Sri Lanka between the government and the Tamil Tigers. Incident The attack took place on 31 ...
. The Neurotrauma Unit, funded by the Saudi Arabian government, was opened by President
Mahinda Rajapaksa Mahinda Rajapaksa (; ; born Percy Mahendra Rajapaksa; 18 November 1945) is a Sri Lankan politician. He served as the sixth President of Sri Lanka from 2005 to 2015; the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 2004 to 2005, 2018, and 2019 to 2022; the ...
on 31 March 2011. Rajapaksa opened the third Medical Ward Complex on 19 April 2013.


Footnotes


Notes


References

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External links

* {{Authority control 1864 establishments in Ceylon Central government hospitals in Sri Lanka Hospital buildings completed in 1864 Hospitals in Colombo Teaching hospitals in Sri Lanka University of Colombo