Mahamodara Maternity Hospital in Galle, where around 12,000 deliveries take place and services are provided to 24,000 mothers annually, is the only maternity hospital in the Southern Province. It was seriously damaged due to the tsunami and is being reconstructed with financial assistance of the Helmut Kohl Maternity Hospital Foundation. The loan agreement was signed between Finance and Planning Ministry Secretary Dr. P B Jayasundera on behalf of the government and Head of Health and Social Security Division of Asia of the KfW Dr. Marlis Sieburger yesterday at the Finance and Planning Ministry.
At present, construction work of the hospital has reached the ground floor slab level and construction activities are held up due to the inadequacy of funds. On a request made by the government, the German government has agreed to provide the required funds through KfW, one of the largest development finance banks in Germany, to complete the balance work of the hospital. Completion of the Mahamodara Maternity Hospital under the Financial Assistance of Rs. 4,300 million (Euro 28 million) from the German government through KfW Banking Group, Maternal and Child Health has been a long standing priority in National Health Policy.
The government gives high priority to modernize the hospital network countrywide to provide specialized care to strengthen maternal and newborn health care. Although, Sri Lanka has reduced maternal and child mortality ratios up to 31.1 per 100,000 live births and 10.9 per 1,000 live births respectively, the government considers to further reduce the same, respectively to 20 per 100,000 live births and 4.5 per 1,000 live births respectively. Therefore, strengthening the services provided by the regional maternity hospitals poses a high priority.
The objective of the project is to provide maternity and gynecology health care services to the Southern Province by reconstructing the hospital with 600 bed maternity care facilities and 800 patients' treatment facilities at the out patient department (OPD). Further, it is also expected to improve facilities of consultation division, doctors and staff quarters and related infrastructure such as sewerage treatment and disposal unit, mortuary, lighting, power generation, car park etc.
In addition to the proposed loan facility from KfW, a grant of Euro 3 million will be provided by the Helmut Kohl Maternity Hospital Foundation for the provision of essential medical equipment. The Health Ministry will be the executing agency of this project and it is scheduled to be completed in 2014.