{{Infobox hospital | name = National Hospital of Sri Lanka | org_group = Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka | image = National Hospital Colombo - panoramio.jpg | image_alt = | caption = | pushpin_map = Sri Lanka Colombo Central | pushpin_map_caption = Location in central Colombo | logo = File:National Hospital of SL logo.png | logo_size = 250px | location = E. W. Perera mawatha | region = Colombo 10 | state = | country = Sri Lanka | coordinates = {{coord|6.919144|79.868027|type:landmark_region:LK|display=inline,title}} | healthcare = Public | funding = Government | type = Teaching | speciality = | standards = | emergency = Yes | helipad = 32 acre | affiliation = University of Colombo | patron = | network = | beds = 3,404 <small>(2020)<ref>{{Cite web|title=Clinic Services|url=http://www.nhsl.health.gov.lk/web/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8&Itemid=189&lang=en|access-date=2021-05-11|website=www.nhsl.health.gov.lk}}</ref></small> | founded = {{start date and age|1864}} | closed = | website = {{URL|nhsl.health.gov.lk}} | other_links = }}

The '''National Hospital of Sri Lanka''' (sometimes '''General Hospital''') is a government hospital in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Founded in 1864 as the '''General Hospital''', it is the leading hospital in Sri Lanka and is controlled by the central government. The hospital has 18 intensive care units and 21 operating theaters and 3,404 beds.<ref>{{Cite web|title=About National Hospital|url=http://www.nhsl.health.gov.lk/web/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2&Itemid=125&lang=en|access-date=2021-05-11|website=www.nhsl.health.gov.lk}}</ref><ref name="SO230314">{{cite news|last1=Samarasinghe|first1=Dulmin|title=The 150th anniversary: National Hospital to conduct heart transplant operations|url=https://archives.sundayobserver.lk/2014/03/23/fea06.asp|work=Sunday Observer (Sri Lanka)|date=23 March 2014}}</ref> It employs 7,500 staff of which 1,500 are doctors.<ref name="SO230314" /> The hospital carries out 5,000 major and minor surgeries each month and treats over two million out patients a year.<ref name="TI220315">{{cite news|last1=Attygalle|first1=Randima|title=National Hospital notches 150 years|url=http://island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=121791|work=The Island (Sri Lanka)|date=22 March 2015}}</ref> Situated on a 36-acre site, it includes the Dental Institute, Maligawatte Kidney Hospital, Nurse's Training School, Post Basic Nurse's Training School, School of Eco Cardiograph, School of Physiotherapy, School of Radiography and the University of Colombo's Faculty of Medicine.<ref name=SO230314/>

==History== In 1817 Deputy Inspector General of Hospitals Charles Farell recommended to the British Governor Robert Brownrigg that a hospital for the poor be established.<ref name=TI141114>{{cite news|last1=Fernando|first1=Joe|title=A legend in patient care — 150 years of illustrious service to the nation|url=http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=114092|work=The Island (Sri Lanka)|date=14 November 2014}}</ref>{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|p=40}} Thus Colombo's first modern hospital was established in 1819{{Efn|Other sources state that the Pettah Hospital was founded in 1861.<ref name=ST290315/>{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|p=11}}}} at Prince Street in Pettah.<ref name=TI141114/><ref name=ST290315>{{cite news|last1=Hettiarachchi|first1=Kumudini|title=A real life drama that's 150 years old|url=http://www.sundaytimes.lk/150329/plus/a-real-life-drama-thats-150-years-old-141610.html|work=The Sunday Times (Sri Lanka)|date=29 March 2015}}</ref> The hospital had 100 beds but demand was so high the hospital became overcrowded and a decision was taken to build a news hospital at a 32-acre cinnamon land in Longden Place.<ref name=TI141114/><ref name=ST290315/> Governor Henry George Ward's administration set aside £3,000 to establish the hospital.<ref name=ST290315/> The new 200 bed General Hospital opened in 1864.<ref name=TI141114/><ref name=ST290315/>{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|p=11}}

The hospital had 21 wards in 1864.<ref name=TI141114/> When the Colombo Medical School was established in 1870 it was based at the hospital's female surgical ward.<ref name=UoC>{{cite journal|title=University History: A Glimpse into the History of the Oldest Medical School in Sri Lanka|journal=University of Colombo Newsletter|date=September 2008|volume=1|issue=2|page=2|url=http://www.cmb.ac.lk/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/UoC-Newsletter-Vol-1-No-2.pdf|publisher=University of Colombo|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120804191238/http://www.cmb.ac.lk/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/UoC-Newsletter-Vol-1-No-2.pdf|archivedate=2012-08-04}}</ref> In 1875 Mudaliyar Samson Rajapakse gifted three and a half acres of land on which Colombo Medical School's successor, the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, stands today.<ref name=TI141114/><ref name=UoC/> The hospital became the first in the country to employ female nurses with the arrival of an English nurse in 1878.{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|p=71}} The hospital found it difficult to recruit nurses locally so the hospital authorities requested the help of Catholic nuns who served in the hospital from 1886 to 1964.<ref name=ST290315/>{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|pp=72-73}}

The hospital had 22 wards and 212 beds, 112 for the medical unit and 100 for the surgical unit, in 1885.{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|p=71}} By 1894 hospital had 24 wards and 280 beds.{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|p=71}} Longden Place was named Kynsey Road in 1900.<ref name=TI141114/>{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|p=71}} The Victoria Memorial Building (eye ward) and the White House (administration building) were opened in 1903 and 1904 respectively.<ref name=SO230314/><ref name=ST290315/>{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|pp=74-75}}<ref name=TN060408>{{cite news|last1=Ariff|first1=Nabiha|title=Hospitality enhances at National Hospital|url=http://www.nation.lk/2008/04/06/special1.htm|work=The Nation (Sri Lanka)|date=6 April 2008}}</ref> The first out patient department was founded in 1910 (now it is the main x-ray unit).<ref name=TI220315/><ref name=ST290315/>{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|p=76}} Overcrowding at the hospital resulted in an annex being opened at Ragama for elderly and chronically ill patients but a cholera outbreak in 1912 resulted in these patients being transferred back to the Kynsey Road site.<ref name=ST290315/>

Governor William Manning opened Merchant Ward (currently Ward No. 15) in October 1918.{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|p=76}} The Skinner Memorial Ward was established and adjoining it the Gnanasekaram Ward was built in 1924.{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|p=76}} These two wards are currently known as Ward No. 16.{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|p=76}} Physiotherapy and rheumatology units were added in the 1920s{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|p=76}} A private home on Ward Place was converted into a dental clinic in 1925 and the radiology unit was established in the administration building in 1926.{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|p=77}} The Marque Memorial Ward was established in 1938 for the Catholic nun nurses whilst the Coudert Memorial Ward was established in 1941 for Christian clergymen.{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|p=79}} The Khan Memorial Ward (Ward No. 51) was established in 1939 to treat paediatric orthopaedic patients.{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|p=79}} Colombo College of Nursing was founded on 9 May 1939.{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|p=79}}

When the University of Ceylon was established in 1942, the General Hospital was chosen to be its teaching hospital.{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|p=79}} Paying wards such as Matapan Ward were established in 1943.{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|p=76}} 1952 saw the building of hospital kitchens and the first cardiothoracic unit.{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|p=80}} The hospital's first open-heart surgery took place in 1955.{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|p=80}} An electrocardiography (ECG) unit was opened on 1 November 1955.{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|p=80}} The College of Physiotherapy and the School of Radiology, both affiliated with the General Hospital, were founded in 1957.{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|p=80}} The Bandaranaike Building (administration and surgery) was opened on 2 February 1958 by Prime Minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike.<ref name=SO230314/>{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|pp=79-80}}{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|p=81}} Eye care moved to the newly created Eye Hospital in 1965 and on 1 January 1967 an accident ward was opened in the vacated Victoria Memorial Building by Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake.{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|p=81}} Ceylon's first intensive care unit was opened in the Surgical Complex by Minister of Health E. L. Senanayake on 16 June 1968.{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|p=80}}{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|p=82}} A mental health ward (Ward No. 59) was founded in the late 1960s.{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|p=81}} Plastic surgery was introduced in 1970 in Ward No. 4.{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|p=82}} The Coronary Care Unit was opened in 1973.{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|p=82}} The Burn Unit started on 28 October 1974 in Lady de Soysa Ward.{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|p=83}}

In 1979 the Sri Lankan and Finnish governments entered into an agreement to renovate the General Hospital, with 85% of the funding coming from Finns.{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|p=83}} Numerous projects were carried out as a result of the agreement including the complete refurbishment of the accident, emergency, orthopaedic and trauma units, the establishment of the training unit and laundry, and the building of a new mortuary.{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|p=83}}{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|p=84}} The Renal Transplant Unit was opened on 6 May 1987.{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|p=84}} A new accident ward was opened by President Ranasinghe Premadasa on 15 March 1991.{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|p=81}} The Medical Ward Complex was opened by President Chandrika Kumaratunga on 1 February 1995.{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|p=84}} On 31 January 1996 the hospital had to treat 1,200 victims of the Colombo Central Bank bombing.{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|p=84}} The Neurotrauma Unit, funded by the Saudi Arabian government, was opened by President Mahinda Rajapaksa on 31 March 2011.{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|p=85}} Rajapaksa opened the third Medical Ward Complex on 19 April 2013.{{sfn|Ministry of Health|2014|p=86}}

==Footnotes== {{Notelist}}

==Notes== {{Reflist|2}}

==References== {{Refbegin}} * {{cite web|title=National Hospital of Sri Lanka 1864-2014|url=http://www.health.gov.lk/en/publication/nhsl/150NHSL.pdf|publisher=Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka|date=2014}} {{Refend}}

==External links== * {{URL|1=http://www.nhsl.health.gov.lk/|2=nhsl.health.gov.lk}}

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Category:1864 establishments in Ceylon Category:Central government hospitals in Sri Lanka Category:Hospital buildings completed in 1864 Category:Hospitals in Colombo Category:Teaching hospitals in Sri Lanka Category:University of Colombo