Hemas last week announced plans to enlist a second batch of nursing students at its School of Nursing at Delpe in Ragama. Nurses who graduate from the Hemas Nursing School will be absorbed into the permanent cadre of the two hospitals of the Hemas Group , the Southern Hospital in Galle, and the Wattala Hospital which is scheduled for an August 2008 opening. CEO Hemas Hospitals Pvt Ltd Dr. Kithsiri Edirisinghe said that the new batch will undergo an intensive three year training conducted by experienced patient care training professionals at the fully-fledged nurses training facility.

“Run by the Associated College of Health Sciences (ACHS), the Nursing School’s first batch comprises 70 male and female student nurses who will soon complete their first year’s training. Conducted according to a curriculum approved by the Ministry of Health and formulated to international standards, the main objective of this programme is to train nurses who are technically sound and with caring personalities”, Dr. Edirisinghe added. Speaking on behalf of the first batch of nursing students, Madushika Weeraratne of Kandy said that the multi-faceted training they had undergone would make them technically sound nurses with caring personalities. “Attention is also paid to our interpersonal skills, professional skills and ethical behaviour to make us total caregivers.

Nursing is a noble profession and we thus all want to be shining examples of our vocation”.One of the parents, R.M. Subaratne Menike of Welimada, said that her son Dinusha Dhanasekera had learnt a lot during his first year at the Hemas Nursing School. “I am also amazed at the way my son now speaks English after this training. He could only speak Sinhala before this. He tells me that it was a wonderful experience and that he is looking forward to starting his duties as a fully fledged nurse one day”.

The Hemas Nursing School will empower its graduating students to be fully fledged health care professionals who will be enrolled at Hemas Hospitals which will operate according to international standards. Hemas Hospitals will also support nurses with strong qualifications. Hemas run the Southern Hospital in Galle which currently consists of 20 beds. It will be upgraded to 50 bed General Hospital by March 2008. The hospital is currently visited by well over 40 consultant specialists catering to the medical, surgical, obstetrics, dermatology, paediatrics, eye, ENT and neurology areas.

The new hospital will consist of state-of-the-art operating theatres, an ICU, a medical laboratory, radiology facilities, a dialysis unit and a labour unit.     The 100 bed Hemas Hospital in Wattala which is expected to commence operations in August 2008, will focus on providing patient-centric, affordable, high quality health services to fast growing suburban communities.Hemas Holdings Ltd is one of Sri Lanka’s top conglomerates with a focus on five key sectors - FMCG, Healthcare, Transportation, Leisure and Strategic Investments.