Sri Lanka, after the recent changes in economic policies, not to mention the budget hopes to position herself as “the hub” for medicine and health care in the South Asian region. This is based from a medical stand point on our continued international reports of having not only the highest Life expectancy but also lowest rates of Maternal Mortality in the SA region, along with our expanding economy and encouragement for international investment Given your investment appetite, I believe there would be a huge investment opportunity here, primarily in the private sector.
The government sector hospitals, primarily used by the lower income bracket, also requires facilities to be expanded and new hospitals to be built. However, as these are owned and managed by the Government, and would not be privatised by way of EPC contracts. The way forward would be by having access to concessionary funding on a long term period. This will be backed by a treasury gurantee from the Ministry of Finance / Government of Sri lanka.
Assessing the ground conditions, despite providing universal free health care to all her citizens, the high literacy rate and current spending power of the general population, people are still short of good health care facilities and there is a disgruntled population looking for new avenues. This has increased the demand for private sector health care services. There are a number of private sector hospitals that have flourished here, under the umbrella of the Soft Logic Group – Asiri Group of hospitals, the Nawaloka Grou and Durdans Hospital to name a few. However, they are located mainly in the capital city and costs are high. Although, they are in existence, we still find that the hospitals are always overflowing, there are waiting lists for Consultations, Rooms for admissions, Investigations and Surgeries; furthermore, the critical time taken from “door to needle” is still too long. The best emergencies services are still run by the government sector and this too would be an area to tap. As you know good health supersedes all else and is the forerunner to development. Given the enormous potential for expansion of health care services, the medical sector would be an extremely lucrative investment opportunity in multiple areas. I have added the websites below for you to review their annual reports.
www.softlogic.lk, www.nawaloka.com,
The most pertinent at this juncture would be the building of a chain of private sector hospitals, perhaps a brand, in a number of strategic locations. Colombo, being the Capital city would be the primary target, but in North and East, ie Jaffna and Trincomalee and perhaps the South in either Galle or Matara would be secondary.
We would like to give potential investors a firm assurance that we would be able to complete the entire process within a reasonably limited time frame, from the initial discussions, including land allocation, be in private or public, not to mention all approvals necessary for the efficient functioning of private sector hospitals in Sri Lanka.
With my medical background and area of expertise, I would like to urge you to consider looking into this sector and look forward to a fruitful association. I understand there are a number of investors looking into opportunities in Sri Lanka and I trust that this brief summary would suffice to whet your appetite!
Dr V.N. Fernando
MBBS (Hons), MRCP (Lond), MRCP (UK), MD (Col), FRCP (Edin), FRCP (Lond),
Consultant Neurologist,
Joint Secretary for the Association of Sri Lanka Neurologists
Joint Editor for the International League Against Epilepsy – SL Chapter