Ramzeena Morseth Lye - Head of Sales and Marketing, Hutchison Telecommunications Lanka, Dr.Karunakaran - Act.Dean, Faculty of Medicine, Dr. Srilal De Silva - Senior Consultant Pediatrician and Past President of the Sri Lanka College of Paediatricians, Dr.Grace Ananda - Acting Director, Teaching Hospital, Batticaloa and Dr.Angela Arulpragasam - Head, University Paediatric Unit, graced the event along with Mr.Alan Sathiadas who is credited with the design and development of the Patient Management System.
Speaking about the launch, Dr. Angela Arulpragasam Anthony, Senior Lecturer in Paediatrics and Consultant in charge of the University Paediatric Unit, Teaching Hospital Batticaloa had this to say “Reliable current data on Neonatal and Childhood illnesses and deaths are essential in improving the healthcare services in the country. In the present time such data is difficult to gather. A Patient Management System such as that we launched today gives us a new hope in this area. The Sri Lanka College of Paediatricians, expects to form such a network in the country in order to achieve this. I sincerely hope that this venture of ours will function as a pilot project in this aspect. I greatly appreciate Mr. Alan Sathiadas’ role in setting up this initiative. The generous contribution of Hutch Mobiles in sponsoring this mission is highly commendable”.
“When this need in the Batticaloa Teaching Hospital was brought to our attention we felt that it was an ideal cause for us to champion” says CEO of Hutchison Telecom Lanka, Thirukumar Nadarasa. “It is an investment in this community that we are honoured to make, and we believe that the system we have helped introduce here will improve the well being of many. This pilot project represents many of the values we strive to uphold at Hutch, primarily the desire to make a sincere and tangible difference in peoples’ lives”
The project was initiated when the University Paediatric Unit of Batticaloa, came to recognise that many parents tended to misplace the original infant record sheet they got from the hospital; a critical problem when treating them for any subsequent illnesses. Equally, parents would miss out on, or delay their childs’ immunization dates and follow up appointments due to the loss of their record sheet.
“The launch of the Patient Management System in Batticaloa marks a new era in the ongoing patient care in Sri Lanka” said The Dean of the Faculty of Health-care Sciences, Eastern University, Sri Lanka Dr. K.T.Sunderesan, “It will help to provide a holistic approach in the treatment of individual patient. It will also form a step forward in the establishment of an island wide network in the Health sector. I congratulate the University Paediatric Unit for getting involved in this new frontier and wish them good luck for the future. I am grateful to Mr. Alan Sathiadas for his untiring enthusiastic initiative. We greatly appreciate Hutch Telecommunications Lanka for their generous sponsorship in this historic venture”.
The pilot Patient Management System was launched at the hospital in collaboration with the Sri Lanka College of Paediatricians (SLCP). Dr. Srilal De Silva - Senior Consultant Pediatrician and Past President of the SLCP explained the long term reach of the system “Maintaining statistics in our own department is vital. Without this we are blind as to how good or bad we are delivering our services. Self auditing and strategic planning is the way forward to improve quality patient care rather than waiting for departmental circulars.” (KH)
