Plans afoot to convert hotels for COVID-19 asymptomatic patients thru private hospitals

Measures have been taken to provide opportunities for COVID-19 patients who wish to seek treatment from private hospitals after converting spacious hotels for treatment purposes, Army Commander Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva said

Giving a voicecut to TV breakfast show, he said that discussions were held to seek the assistance of private hospitals for this purpose since some sections of the society are reluctant to undergo common treatment procedures and instead seek possibilities of admission to private hospitals for treatment against payment. 

“We have converted the quarantine centers of the tri-forces into hospitals or treatment centres in addition to some hospitals in the country in the wake of the increase of COVID-19 patients as alternative measures," he said.

"Today, out of over 8,000 COVID-19 patients in Sri Lanka, nearly 65 percent of patients are not hospitalized. They are at intermediate treatment centers that were formerly run as quarantine centers," he stressed.

"However, some patients want them to be treated in private hospitals. They do not like to stay at government hospitals due to lack or standards of sanitary facilities, etc, instead they prefer to be treated in single room facilities," he underlined.

"On the directions of HE the President, we had various discussions in this regard. The Minister of Health and I had a discussion with representatives of private hospitals last week. We spoke to major private hospitals in Colombo," the Army Commander said.

"Accordingly, Nawaloka Hospital and Lanka Hospital have informed us of their willingness to work on this by renting Hotels for the purpose. Accordingly, steps are being taken to convert a hotel into a hospital in a proper manner and to maintain it as a treatment center. We hope to turn this into a hospital especially for asymptomatic patients,” he remarked.