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When Indrani Fernando married Dr. Christo Fernando, she did not intend to run hospitals some day in her life. But, today, she does - while running a private hospital in Kalutara, she has also laid the foundation to set up a second hospital as a BOI venture.

Talking to Meeting Point about her hospital ventures, Fernando said she admired the business skills in people from a very young age.

"But I couldn't pursue a career in that area as I got married soon after I finished my schooling. My father was a businessman and he had many leading business personalities as his friends who used to talk about business matters in our house. That gave me an opportunity to have some first hand experience about running a business, which has certainly helped me in managing this venture," she said.

Having studied at St. Bridget's Convent, Fernando was in London for a short stint before her marriage where she followed a course in business administration.

However, Fernando went into marriage thinking of being a traditional housewife. And for some years, she did so.

"I developed an interest in running a hospital after the death of my father-in-law. He ran a very successful dispensary in Kalutara. But with his sudden death, it was neglected by the whole family. Though my husband is a qualified doctor, he did not want to take the challenge. Therefore, I told him of my willingness to manage the dispensary."

Support and encouragement

Fernando's husband gave her all the support and encouragement. She spared no pains in getting everything in place, recruited doctors, nurses and other staff immediately and the Philip Hospital in Kalutara was established. Since then, the hospital has grown from strength to strength.

"Though this is a business venture, we haven't forgotten the fact of being service-oriented.

I believe that our success is mainly due to this concept. We do not turn down a patient who comes to our hospital even if he or she has no money.

We attend to the patient immediately without thinking about the money factor," she said. Her doctor-husband, who is now a Director of the hospital manages the operational work of the professionals while Fernando looks into other matters of the hospital.

"We employ qualified and experienced doctors and staff and look after them well. So everybody is happy to work with us."

Personal qualities

As personal qualities, Fernando admires honesty in people. "I believe in working according to a schedule and be on time in everything I do. This saves time and allows me to attend to all scheduled meetings for a day."

Referring to future plans, Fernando said the on-going second hospital is a dream come true for her. "In the Kalutara area people do not have not much of a choice for better medical facilities. Therefore, I want to make sure that the new project will fill that vaccum."

Fernando, a mother of two children - her elder daughter is studying medicine in a University in India and the son is still a student at S.Thomas' College, Mt. Lavinia also enjoys her life as a mother and housewife (CJ)

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