From banking to healthcare, she succeeds against all odds
 

by Shirajiv Sirimane

From a banking background she elected herself to become the owner of one of Sri Lanka's largest private hospitals out of Colombo, the Philip Hospital in Kalutara.

Joint Managing Director of the hospital Indrani Fernando says that the success of her enterprise was her dedication and planning. "Reviving the hospital was a challenge that came my way and when I decided to accept it I never looked back," she said.

 She recalled of the days when the hospital, which was among her family concerns was operating with basic facilities. Fernando also remembered how her husband (Christo), who is also a doctor, advised her not to get involved in this white elephant venture.

'However with all odds against me, I took over the hospital and the first thing I did was to make contact with specialists and win their confidence to visit the hospital again," she recollected. "I also maintained a very close rapport with the staff and sometimes I myself was behind a make shift desk writing bills and accepting cash.

With the specialists coming back to the hospital, rooms started to fill up again. "Subsequently I upgraded the theater, maternity section and the rooms." During this period she built another two-storeyed block and the bed capacity was increased to 50.

Fernando said that this was tiring but a challenging time for her. "It was almost impossible to sell my proposal to rebuild the Philip Hospital for the banks and obtain a loan. Finally it was the DFCC Bank which came to my rescue," she said.

From 1994, the hospital has come a long way and last week it opened a modern 100 bed complex with state of the art medical equipment.

The stylish new block designed by Fernando comprises of 2 operating theaters, ITU and ETU, investigative units, specialised heart section, spacious OPD, channelling rooms, and many other modern medical facilities.

Fernando's expansions do not end there. Her next phase is to add four more floors to the new wing and increase the total bed capacity to around 400. "In addition a specialised eye unit too would be introduced," she said. The total investment for this would be around Rs. 400 million.

"Times have changed to the effect that bankers are coming to see me and are ready to offer credit on my terms," she said.

In addition she is hoping to increase their lab testing centers to 25 and cover the entire Kalutara district.

She is also in the process of negotiating to employ foreign medical staff and looking at opening another hospital in the Southern province. "There is an ever increasing demand for medical facilities," she said.

Fernando said that her overheads are the same like in Colombo private hospitals, however her charges are far below. "My objective is not only profit making." But want to give something back to the community," she said. This is the reason why she is maintaining a 24-hour pharmacy. "Some nights only Paracetamol has been sold.

However this is a service I would keep maintaining," she said. With this in mind she is also in the process of building an elders' home to look after the inmates free.

In addition, she has also constructed a house for one her staff members who lost almost all her belongings by the tsunami.