Press Releases
US Agency for International Development Opens new Hospital Wards in Tissamaharama.
Colombo, January 28, 2008: Gathered here at the Tissamaharama Base Hospital, local school children helped hospital staff and residents of Tissamaharama welcome special guests, including A.G. Piyasiri, Southern Provincial Health Minister, Dr. D.M. Dharmasena, District Medical Officer, and Rebecca Cohn, Mission Director for the US Agency for International Development (USAID), to celebrate the official opening on January 23 of two new USAID-funded hospital wards and sanitary facilities.
Following the tsunami tragedy of late 2004, the Hambantota Base Hospital was temporarily closed due to damages, forcing the Tissamaharama hospital and staff to take on the increased patient load. Since then, this hospital has been upgraded to the level of “base” hospital, serving a larger population and more specialized functional areas, such as pediatrics.
“USAID is proud to have had the opportunity to improve the services provided by the Tissamaharama Base Hospital during its time of need,” said Ms. Cohn. Speaking to the crowd gathered in one of the recently completed wards, she continued, “it is a great pleasure to stand here and see the contribution that the American people and USAID have been able to make to the people of Tissamaharama and to the future success of this hospital as it responds to the new challenges that lay ahead and adjusts to its new role within the community.”
While one of the two new wards was being used for the ceremony, the other was already being put to use. Just before the official ceremony began, the first patient to be assigned to a new ward was admitted to the hospital. The patient, Mr. A G Suransena, came into the hospital accompanied by his wife and friends, complaining of heart pain. After performing an examination on Mr. A G Suransena, Dr. N. K. Sanna Sooriya assigned him treatment and sent him to the new ward. As he lay on one of the new beds, “patient number one,” as he was jokingly called by his friends, said he was very “thankful that the new ward was completed” and was “pleased with the attention (he had) received from the great hospital staff.”
One of the leaders of the hospital staff, Dr. Dharmasena, is also the President of the Tissamaharama Hospital Development Committee (THDC). Dr. Dharmasena spoke at the opening ceremony, noting that “the THDC was set up by the government to manage the hospital and ensure community participation in the maintenance and management of hospital resources.”
During her remarks, Ms. Cohn thanked Dr. Dharmasena and the rest of the THDC, which consists of business men and women, doctors, local politicians, and other community leaders. She ended her speech saying that the USAID “is confident that the services these two wards provide will be utilized to their full potential under your guidance and leadership.”
The new wards will help the hospital serve approximately 300,000 people from Tissamaharama, Katharagama, Lunugamvehera and Thanamalwila. USAID financed the project as part of its Transition Initiatives program. Following the tsunami, the program was able to rapidly address community infrastructure, livelihoods and information dissemination needs in affected communities in addition to maintaining its grassroots focus on collaborative decision making and community cooperation with local authorities. To date, the program has awarded more than 750 grants totaling more than $27 million.