Dr. Ramya de Silva honoured by UK’s Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
View(s):Senior Consultant Paediatrician Dr. Ramya de Silva has been elected for an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health of the United Kingdom in recognition of her outstanding contribution to children.
The Honorary Fellowship was presented to Dr. de Silva at the 21st anniversary celebrations of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health held at the International Conference Centre, Birmingham on May 25.
Dr. de Silva has been working as a Consultant Paediatrician for the past 27 years including 16 years at the Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children, Colombo. She is the Immediate Past President of the Sri Lanka College of Paediatricians (SLCP).
Her most significant contribution has been the establishment of the Neonatal Transport Service, which she initiated as a pilot project in collaboration with the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford in 2012 when she was the President of the Perinatal Society of Sri Lanka.
Dr. de Silva established this service as almost 80% of the deaths under the age of one year occur during the first month of life. Of these deaths, one-third is due to prematurity and low-birth weight. These babies need special care during transportation to a hospital where facilities are available for neonatal intensive care. As such the Neonatal Transport Service provides the facilities of a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit during transportation.
Following the pilot project, Dr. de Silva worked tirelessly to bring the Neonatal Transport Service to the national level. Sri Lanka is the first country in South Asia to establish it as such, with the Health Ministry taking up this measure to improve the quality of care provided to newborns to prevent neonatal morbidity and mortality.
Dr. de Silva is on many Technical Advisory Committees of the ministry including the National Council for Accreditation and the committee that developed the clinical indicators to monitor healthcare quality and patient safety.
She is the President of the Neonatal Transport Forum of Sri Lanka, the Neonatal and Paediatric Simulation Council of Sri Lanka and the SLCP’s Adolescent Healthcare Forum.