Medical Supplies for Hospital
Written by Shoela Ettampola
Found in 1895, Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children’s is the largest free-of-charge pediatric hospital in Sri Lanka, and one of the largest in South Asia. LRH’s mission is to provide safe and high quality care to all children not only in Sri Lanka, but in neighboring countries as well. The hospital itself has approximately 900 beds in active use, but is equipped to handle over 1,200. Its Outpatient Department sees around 1,500-1,700 children daily and operates 24/7. In total the hospital sees over 1 million outpatient visits annually.
Though it is government-funded, the hospital relies heavily on donations for equipment, patient support services, and infrastructure improvements. One of our members Sawani DeSilva visited Lady Highway in 2024. In her visit she noticed the lack of supplies and staff. At the time there was only 1 surgeon in the whole hospital. The lack of resources could lead to detrimental results for both the hospital and the patients, which is why Light for Lanka stepped up to help. We reached out to Doctor Shyama, a neonatologist at Lady Ridgeway, and found out they needed a new infusion pump. We created a raffle ticket fundraiser to help reach our goal. It was a huge hit and we had donations pouring in. (read more on it here) we were able to raise money for the infusion pump.
An infusion pump is a critical medical device that is used to deliver fluids (like nutrients, medications, and blood) into a patients body at a controlled rate. Unlike IV drips, which rely on gravity, infusion pumps use a kind of mechanical force to regulate the rate of the flow. This is really important for drugs that need exact dosing. Through a pump, fluid is pushed through IV tubing into a patients vein or artery at a set rate. While looking for the best supplier for the infusion pump, we found InnoTech. InnoTech is a leader in making healthcare equipment. We contacted them, ordered the infusion pump, and successfully shipped the pump to Lady Ridgeway.
Image of the infusion pump
Image of the receipt sent from InnoTech
By rallying our community, we were able to provide Lady Ridgeway with the supplies they needed and helped them focus on what matters the most: the patients. Lady Ridgeway is a reminder that when resources are scarce, it takes a village to bring hope where it is needed most.
“As a healthcare worker, I am proud and thrilled to be a part of Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children (LRH). It is a loving home dedicated to the wellbeing of children of this nation. Having a legacy of 125 years of excellence which provides a strong foundation, we look forward to the future with a lot of hope and dreams of expanding our services. We our focused on improving the quality of our health services offered. We at LRH pledge to continue to work with dedication for the physical and mental well-being of the country’s little children.”
