Nawaloka in major expansion drive

More hospitals in Sri Lanka and region:

Shirajiv SIRIMANE

Nawaloka is planning to open more hospitals in Sri Lanka and also have plans to branch out to the region. Chairman Nawaloka Group Jayantha Dharmadasa said that they are looking at building a hospital in Bangladesh. “Bangladesh is a fast developing country and advanced medical facilities are in demand and this is the reason Nawaloka is looking at branching out to Bangladesh.

He said that they are also exploiting opportunities to start a hospital in the Maldives. There are many Maldivians who seek treatment in Nawaloka and the hospital brand name is a house hold name and it would be a major success in Male.

He said that due to space constrains it would be difficult to build a new hospital in the Maldives and they are keen on acquiring an existing hospital and running it.

Commenting on the local expansion drive he said that they already possess a testing facility in Jaffna and plans to upgrade this to a hospital. “We are looking at a 50 bed mini Nawaloka hospital in Jaffna,” he said.

Dharmadasa said they would also open a 50 bed hospital in Negombo. “This would be our first fully fledged hospital to be opened outside Colombo,” he said. He said that this would be followed up with the Jaffna hospital and next they would look at another 50 room hospital in Matara.

Commenting on the private health care industry he said that it is of high standard and said that it is the best in the region. He said that though some patients think that Sri Lankan private healthcare is costly its not so. “Patients get their money worth,” he said.

Commenting on the industry profits he said that the returns on investment in the private healthcare sector are slow and profit margins thin.

“This is because hospitals have to keep on upgrading equipment which is very costly,” he said. Nawaloka Hospital, a project initiated by Group Chairman, H.K. Dharmadasa commenced operations in 1985.

Nawaloka Hospitals have many unique initiatives to their credit.

Introduction of Intensive Care Units, Coronary Care Units, Laparoscopic surgery and Thoracic surgery are many first initiatives of Nawaloka.

The Group a record ed a 246 percent increase in profit after tax of Rs 61 million for the quarter ending December 2010, compared to a significantly lower profit of Rs 17 million for the same quarter in 2009.

Group revenue for the quarter ending December 2010 also increased notably to Rs 842 million compared to Rs 752 million for the same comparative quarter in 2009.

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