The International Institute of Health Sciences (IIHS), the country's premier healthcare education provider launched its new state -of- the- art healthcare training facility amidst a gathering of distinguished guests.
The Institute, located at Welisara aims to provide quality healthcare education through an internationally recognized curriculum that has been approved by the Ministry of Health.

Expressing his views the Managing Director of IIHS Dr.Kithsiri Edirisinghe noted that there is increasing demand for health care professionals internationally and added healthcare is a recession free career path that has seen a positive growth through out the years.

"IIHS will use its expertise to drive the school forward in its attempt to provide quality education for those in the health sector. Instead of focusing on simply proving training for general nursing we are also looking at offering the students a range of programs in areas such as assistant nursing, personal care assistants and specialized nursing. Additionally we have expanded our educational services to include a faculty of health management and a faculty of premedical sciences.

The faculty of Health Management offers courses in subjects such as hospital administration, health administration, disaster management, IT in healthcare and a Special diploma programme for Medical Representatives while the faculty of Paramedical Sciences has programs that include pharmacy, physiotherapy, medical laboratory , optometry, biomedical engineering and radiology. Dr.Edirisinghe says that the Institute is well equipped to meet the student's needs and went on to say that the site of the campus was chosen with the intention of creating a conducive atmosphere for the students carry out their educational activities. He further pointed out "Nursing is not a recognized profession in Sri Lanka. We want to change people's attitude about nursing and produce well qualified healthcare professionals who would make a difference. Our students are very keen to learn these programs and we provide them the best of facilities to support their education. If we provide the right training Sri Lankan nurses can become the world's best nurses."

"The programs offered by IIHS are job oriented thus it enables the students to seek overseas employment to broaden their career path. I believe that government authorities should support private organizations like IIHS to improve the standards of healthcare education in the country,'' added Dr.Edirisinghe. Meanwhile, Dr.Nihal de Silva the Dean of The International Institute of Health Sciences said the institute conducts the 3 year diploma program in general nursing according to an American Curriculum.

"IIHS has brought in an internationally recognized curriculum that's conducted in English. Our students are taught discipline and personality development as essential elements of their study programs which make them stand out amongst the rest," he concluded.