While the whole world often talks about rights and adequate care for children, even the most developed nations around the world cannot hold a candle to the unbelievable free services this tiny developing nation of Sri Lanka provide for its children. Although not many know these facts, Sri Lanka boasts the world’s biggest children’s hospital, with a bed capacity of over 1,000, more than any other children’s hospital in the world, with so many other facilities that are not provided by other nations although internet sites promote far smaller and less advanced children’s hospitals as the world’s and Asia’s biggest hospitals.
Sri Lanka was and is, far ahead in quality healthcare systems since ancient times, thus after becoming a colony to some western nations- finally to the British, Sri Lanka continued to pioneer in Western medical institutions and quality care as well, such as founding Asia’s first hospital for women with the generosity of local donors and welfare organisations and later with opening Aisa’s first public Children’s Hospital, the Lady Ridgeway Hospital, which is now the world’s biggest, in every capacity although not promoted in any of the privately funded internet sites, neither acknowledged with due respect by the WHO.
Everything provided
To elaborate in simple terms, the Lady Ridgeway children’s hospital in Sri Lanka provides an impressive number of services under one roof, basically, everything. The fact is, no other children’s hospital in the world can provide all these services and special units for children, as their patients sometimes have to be transferred to other hospitals for certain services, such as cardiology, psychiatry, organ transplant or even fitting of prosthesis.
While at Lady Ridgeway, every child will have all their needs looked after under one roof, without having to be transferred or taken temporarily to any other medical facility. The impressive part of it is, that starting from basic OPD and accident services that are open 24 hours a day throughout the whole year, it could stretch up to some complicated and high-cost treatments such as organ transplants, but all will be done without the child being subject to a stressful trip in an ambulance to another medical institution.
The Lady Ridgeway hospital offers a staggering 25 units to cater to every medical need of its child patients, such as; plastic surgery, physiotherapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy, orthopaedic surgery and spine and orthopaedic surgeries, dental and orthodontics services, neurology and neurosurgery services and even sports medical services. Although Sri Lanka is a tiny nation with a moderate population, more than one million children are treated each year at the OPD itself, with free immunisation for more than 50,000 children as well.
Caring for mothers
The amazing features go even further, while we all know that most sick children constantly complain and cry, every child should have its own mother or a known guardian present with them at all times, the Lady Ridgeway hospital not only allows these mothers to be there with the patient at all times, it also provides all meals and more than 200 foldable beds for the ever-exhausted mothers who spend sleepless nights next to their sick or dying children.
At the ICU facility, there is a common room for mothers to dine and sleep, and going further, the hospital has provided a rented house next to the hospital, which is maintained by generous donors for mothers of long-term ICU patients to stay as long as needed,
The surprising facts do not end there, as it goes beyond caring, it has six government teachers appointed to provide tuition to students at any level, in some instances going to their beds individually. These teachers are allocated from Nalanda College in Colombo and they teach every subject to the sick children who are missing out on their usual lessons at school, and not surprisingly, the stationary and all other school supplies are provided to all patients who cannot afford them by the hospital too.
I, for one, was not surprised that these facts did not end there, apart from providing three nutritious meals and tea for all their patients and carers or mothers of sick children, The Lady Ridgeway hospital also provides special meals such as soups, fried chicken, fried rice, yoghurt, jelly, cheese and fruits for special diet patients.
Their large and clean kitchen cooks each meal for a staggering number of people of over 1,000 each day including its minor staff and even during this Covid outbreak, these days also they provide meals for about 800 people. Some might not believe that all these meals, supplies, lessons, and other needs are provided completely free to child patients and their mothers by the Sri Lankan Gvernment.
During normal days even the generous donors and welfare associations often visit (before the pandemic) children’s wards bringing them an abundance of gifts of toys, stationery, sweets, and fruits, which is customarily a giving nature seen at every hospital in Sri Lanka.
The cases of abused children are treated with utmost care as the hospital has two permanent social workers at all times with more visiting social workers from the University of Colombo. Every child’s welfare is looked after by the social care even after leaving the hospital at end of treatment.
Foundation and history
The hospital had first started as the Lady Havelock hospital for women and children, during the period 1890-1895 when Sir Arthur Havelock was the Governor of Ceylon. His wife had taken the initiative to start the hospital with him laying the foundation stone January 17, 1895. However, it was the Sinhalese aristocrats and generous welfare organisations that had donated the massive 14-acre land and buildings entirely even through its development in the next many decades. Not surprisingly, in 1895, Alfred Joseph Richard de Soysa, a Cambridge graduate and the second son of one of Sri Lanka’s greatest philanthropists, Charles Henry De Soysa built the Chevaliar Jusey de Silva ward at the Lady Havelock Hospital for Children.
This was one of its first buildings, which paved the way to great child care in the country, as the Soysa family fondly recalls. At the beginning, it had taken a year to build this Women and Children’s hospital which was started with Lady Havelock’s vision, but when her husband was succeeded as Governor by Sir Joseph West Ridgeway in 1896, it was Lady Ridgeway who had ceremonially opened the hospital on October 12,1896 and this opened a path for it to be renamed later.
Another block was added in 1909 when Sir Henry Edward McCallum, then Governor of Ceylon laid the foundation stone with the former first Lady Ridgeway fund raising from the generous public for this project. On September 27,1910 at the ceremonial opening, the new section was called the Lady Ridgeway Block for the Children, with the first building for children later taken completely for Castle Street Women’s hospital and Lady Havelock’s name erased from the hospital.
As per the Britannica, Sri Lanka’s D. S Senanayake assumed duties as the Minister of Health and Local Government in 1951, the Ministry and him had then already adopted plans to progressively reconstruct the hospital, making further developments to it with government funding.
Management and care
The Director of the LRH is an experienced medical practitioner who had joined the field of medical practice in 1992, Dr G Wijesuriya, emphasised a well-known historical fact that even today our generous donors are so willing to give more and more facilities to the hospital for the benefit of sick children. ‘Our society is so caring and giving, and we have some donors who constantly ask us what more is needed and I am quite happy that even my consultants take it upon themselves to fundraise when the need arises’.
Among their patrons is the former First Lady and current Prime Minister’s wife Shiranthi Rajapaksa who is in constant touch with the hospital and its needs aside being a patron for over a decade. When asked why she holds this particular hospital dearly, she said ‘As a pre-school teacher, I have always had a soft spot for children, and I always try to help poor children with any of their individual requests, such as buying their prescription medicines and also providing equipment, wall painting or any other need for the hospital for the benefit of all children as well.’ As children with thalassemia need blood transfusions all their life, every two or three weeks and face complications such as iron chelation, a bone marrow transplant that could give them a permanent cure or a longer life was also made come true with Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa opening the state-of-the-art Bone marrow transplant unit at Lady Ridgeway last year.
While describing the culture of the Lady Ridgeway hospital, the Director added ‘Working with its staff is stress free, as I sometimes feel they all are like children, easy to manage and get the work done, unlike some other medical institutions, I did not find them arrogant or stubborn, so I think of them also like children’.
As everyone is familiar with the hospital being called ‘Nona Wattuwa’ since olden days, Dr Mahinda Wickremarachchi of the Quality Management Unit says that it was because at the very beginning of the hospital, there was a very kind and caring female doctor by the name of ‘Baby Nona’ and as people got used to her, instead of the hospital’s full name, they called it ‘Nona Wattuwa’ and adds that such kindness can make a lasting impression on people such as the hospital does today for the entire nation.
Deputy Director Dr Saman Yapa Bandara explained the mind soothing and knowledge developing local fruit plantation project, ‘as most of these children never get the chance to see our own traditional fruit trees that are now seen only in faraway villages or woods, this project of planting fruit trees at every possible place inside the hospital will give them the opportunity to learn about Sri Lanka’s own fruits and even learn their English and Botanical names.’ showing me a few feet high ambilla, sepathilla and anoda/soursap fruit trees growing next to their building. ‘Not only that, it also attracts birds and other animals and sick children will feel happy seeing them’ he added.
Along the way from the entrance towards the hospital, there is a large number of old shady trees that provide eye soothing greenery in the heart of Borella and I saw a large play area with two life size statues of an elephant and its baby that distracts countless sick children, as well as a small ‘Butterfly garden’ that was filled with rural plants such as ‘wara flowers’ that attracts butterflies. Both doctors stated that the area get a large number of butterflies during the month of December. One of their administrative assistants, Kavisha Kumari says that working at Lady Ridgeway is stress free and everyone likes their job as it involves helping sick children.
Advanced facilities
The hospital boasts a large number of employees to cater to every need of its child patients, with over 2,000, consist of 91 consultants, 345 medical officers, with 840 nursing officers to assist them. They are organised as medical teams headed by permanent senior consultants who have international experience in their particular specialty. The current director said more plans to improve the hospital in the future, highlighting another special aspect of Sri Lanka’s own Children’s hospital of its prosthetic and orthotic department having its own workshop that creates and modifies wheel-chairs and prosthesis devices that are sometimes worth over Rs 50,000 for an individual patient, and unlike most other hospitals around the world, given entirely free to the child patient to be taken home with them.
Although foreign internet sites nor the WHO website does not give the credit where it is due, Sri Lanka’s Lady Ridgeway Hospital for children spends millions of dollars each year to provide lifesaving and high-cost surgeries, treatments, equipment, special supplies, special meals for all its child patients regardless race or background, catering to all its citizens and even services and meals for their mothers entirely free.
Sri Lanka’s high quality healthcare system since ancient times as well as the country’s modern day unique and advanced free healthcare system to all its citizens from birth till death has made the impossible task possible for even the poorest child to receive millions of rupees costing surgeries and treatments without having to beg anyone, making being born a citizen of Sri Lanka a fortunate coincidence. Incidentally, Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children in Colombo, Sri Lanka is indeed the biggest and best medical facility that the whole world should look up to as it provides everything for its child patients under one roof entirely free and unbelievably easily.