New upmarket care centre for elders at Nawaloka Hospital
View(s):NAGAI Elder Care Centre is a new centre for elders opening at the Nawaloka Hospital in Colombo. Located on the 7th floor it is a fully equipped luxury care centre for the elderly which was inaugurated by the Chairman Nawaloka Hospitals Jayantha Dharmadasa along with Hiromitsu Takahashi, President of Social Welfare Corporation, General Welfare Facility at Rengesou. Japanese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Kenachi Suganuma officially opened the centre. Managing Director Nawaloka Holdings (Pvt) Ltd, Harshith Dharmadasa said Nawaloka Hospital has entered into a joint venture with a Japanese company involved in providing care to the elderly all over the world. “We have brought the same module to Sri Lanka along with them to provide elderly care to Sri Lankan citizens.
We are also looking at the possibility of bringing in patients from countries such as Japan and Singapore.” He said where nursing care was concerned the Nawaloka hospital will provide such services but where other standards and other protocols are concerned it will be on Japanese modules. “The total value of the project is Rs.100 million,” he said. Asked about the future plans, he said as the Japanese Ambassador mentioned there is a great need for elderly care in Japan. “Our future plan is to attract more overseas patients and will venture into a large scale operation with the same company to bring in more foreign patients to Sri Lanka.
We did a few trial runs and found the response was good. The facility is opened for Sri Lankans and for foreigners.” Nalaka Niroshana, Nawaloka Hospital’s Manager Finance and Corporate Planning, said the joint ventutre with the Japanese company “Kochikai Rengesou” was signed about six months ago. “The Japanese company has five elder homes in Japan in Osaka and is considered as one of the leading companies in Japan that provide elder care to people. They will also provide their operations manager and their own staff to man the NAGAI Care Centre.” He said the facility will have nine rooms including the Royal room and other Deluxe rooms.
The package will cost Rs 450,000 per person a month for a deluxe room and upwards depending on the type of room patient select. ”The package includes food, medical care laboratory facilities and other services as well. Discounts will be offered to patients depending on the duration of their stay at the hospital.” Taro Maeakawa, Director Nawaloka Guardian International (PVT) Ltd, (NAGAI), said they like to bring their expertise to Sri Lanka of 18 years of experience in providing care for the elderly in Japan. “We have trained Sister Seetha of Nawaloka hospital in Japan and hope to train more others from Nawaloka in elderly care,” he said.”- (JJ)