Hekitta leprosy hospital to be modernized

Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa inspected the 300-year-old leprosy hospital at Hekitta, Wattala, which has been earmarked to be renovated under the Gampaha District Hospital Modernization Programme.

Admission of patients to this hospital was stopped in 1983 following the discovery of a cure for leprosy. However, considering the historical importance of the hospital constructed in 1708, steps are being taken to renovate and modernize it as a tourist attraction and convert it into a museum to be preserved with WHO coordination. The hospital's 300th Anniversary was commemorated in 2009.

Around 1,900 residential patients were being treated at this hospital in its early days. Today, only 43 persons are accommodated and out of this, 28 are men and the rest women. Although they have been completely cured, they continue to stay at the infirmary since their relatives and families are not accepting them, according to medical officer in charge of the hospital Dr Namal Gunasekera.

Approximately 2,000 leprosy patients have been identified in Sri Lanka. The highest, 46 percent from the total, is from the Western Province, according to National Leprosy Prevention Programme Director Dr. Nilanthi Fernando. The others are mainly from the Eastern and Wayamba Provinces.

The country has one other leprosy hospital at Mankulam, Batticaloa. The Hekitta hospital has four wards and a staff of 47, including a doctor, an assistant doctor, seven nurses and 38 minor employees. In the hospital premises are a Buddhist Temple, Hindu Kovil, Roman Catholic Church, a non-Catholic Christian Church and a mosque.

Deputy Ministers and Gampaha District MPs Sarath Gunaratne and Duleep Wijesekera, Western Provincial Council Minister Nimal Lansa, Gampaha District Secretary G.A. Chandrasiri, Health Ministry Secretary Dr. Nihal Jayatilleke and Deputy Health Director General Sarath Amunugama took part in the inspection tour.