Ceyline Group focuses on Jaffna healthcare sector

Harshini Perera

Ceyline Group of Companies has seen that there are plenty of opportunities and a need for a good hospital and healthcare sector in the North, thus the company has planned to tap the hospital management services sector in Jaffna in 2011.

The company will move to hospital management catering to the need of a good healthcare system in Jaffna, Ceyline Group of Companies Group Managing Director, Capt Ajith Peiris.

During 2010, the education and training provided by the company increased the local student population especially for degree programs such as Logistics, Engineering and Management. The company will focus on attracting more foreign students for the 2011 intake.

“We have already made arrangements to attract foreign students from countries such as China, Pakistan, Nigeria, Mauritius and South Africa for Colombo International Nautical and Engineering College (CINEC). By doing that we will not only increase the foreign students to Sri Lanka but support tourism. We expect 200 foreign students by the end of next year,” he said.

The representatives from these countries have already visited CINEC and they were satisfied with the environment and the facilities it provides and they recommend our service without any hesitation, he said. CINEC will also look at tie ups with UK’s Wolverhampton University to provide sports management and hospitality services which will be a new venture for CINEC. The courses are expected to start in September, 2011. “We will get into a highly demanding and employment generating area, the healthcare sector by providing education and training in health sector. We have identified courses and programs in tie ups with UK’s Wolverhampton University,” Capt Peiris said.

CINEC has already set up branches in Jaffna and Trincomalee and there has been a request to set up a branch in Ampara where CINEC will start with industrial training, information technology and soft skills. The investment for the expansion of branches will be nearly Rs 50 million.

He said that there has been a restriction to find employment opportunities for the cadet trainees on ships but recently CINEC has appointed a company in Singapore to promote this area and thus CINEC is confident that the number of trainees and the number of employment opportunities on foreign ships will increase making way for the company to increase the number of students.

Ceyline Group of Companies is planning to have a strong consortium with a reputed ship repair company in Sri Lanka to offer services to ships while ships are afloat in Hambantota, Trincomalee and Colombo. This is an area where the Ceyline Group of Companies can bring in additional revenue and foreign exchange to the country which was restricted due to the war.

“We are planning to step more aggressively into the infrastructure development sector”, he said.