Browns Ragama Hospital expansion and refurbishment by end Oct.
View(s):Browns Healthcare, a unit of Browns which acquired private hospital, St. Peters hospital Ragama late last year will start its expansion and refurbishment by the end of October this year, officials said.
“We are planning to open the fully fledged hospital by July/August next year. We want to refurbish it into a fully-fledged multi speciality 70 bed hospital,” Dr. Sajeeva Narangoda, Director/GM Browns Healthcare (Pvt) Ltd told the Business Times, adding that the company is investing Rs.1350 million in this project.
He said their main target is the middle income population in Gampaha district. “But this hospital is open to any category of patients who require high end medical treatment for a reasonable fee. We are going to invest heavily into medical equipment and technology,” he said, adding that pertaining to medical investigations this hospital can easily match the facilities available in Colombo private hospitals including high end CT and MRI Scanning.
He said that St. Peter’s Hospital Ragama has a history of well over 30 years, where it had catered to the ever-increasing demand for healthcare in the Gampaha district. “It is with this background that Browns Healthcare has decided to acquire St. Peter’s Hospital Ragama.”
Browns Healthcare Sector is a new venture of the Browns Group established with the aim of developing a chain of secondary care General Hospitals and Diagnostic Centres to deliver quality care, he said. He added that the company is looking at other provinces to establish more hospitals as well. “We have acquired a 11-acre property in Kandy but currently our main focus is with Ragama hospital. Also we have bought another property in Battaramulla for a mini hospital project.”
Dr Narangoda said that there is a widening demand gap in private sector healthcare facilities with the change in demographic, epidemiological, socio – economical and health seeking behaviour factors. “With our heavy presence in leisure and financial services, a presence in healthcare can easily complement our core sectors,” he said, adding that considering the disease burden in the society and the investment options, it was more feasible to set up a hospital that caters to a majority of the disease conditions and other hospital service aspects.
“Furthermore, it is more important to consider the faster evolving noninvasive medical technology and avoiding capital intensive, invasive services. A General hospital with multi – specialty facility will be the choice in today’s context.”
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