The foundation stone laying ceremony of the proposed 150 bed hospital at Dickoya near Hatton in the Central Province was held on 4th July 2011. Hon. Maithripala Sirisena, Minister of Health along with H.E. Ashok K. Kantha, High Commissioner of India laid the foundation for the construction of the Hospital at the project site.

The event was graced with the presence of Hon. Arumugam Thondaman, Minister of Livestock & Rural Community Development, Hon. Navin Dissanayake, Minister of State Management Reforms, Hon. Tikiri Kobbekaduwa, Governor – Central Province, Hon. Sarath Ekanayake, Chief Minister - Central Province, Hon. Muthu Sivalingam, Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Hon. Sunil K. Amarathunga, Minister of Health – Central Province, other Ministers of Central Province, prominent members of Central Provincial Council and other dignitaries.

Speaking on the occasion, dignitaries from the Central Province conveyed their sincere gratitude to the Government of India for recognizing the long felt need of the people of the area, particularly the estate workers for establishment of a well equipped general hospital at Dickoya and coming up with the initiative. Echoing the sentiments of other dignitaries, Minister Maithripala Sirisena termed the project a monument to India-Sri Lanka friendship. He expressed his government’s appreciation for India’s consistent support to Sri Lanka, both domestically and internationally. Minister Arumugam Thondaman felt that with the construction of this hospital, the vision of late Hon. Sauviamoorthy Thondaman will become a reality.

In his remarks on the occasion, High Commissioner thanked the Government of Sri Lanka for its support and cooperation which had made the project a reality. He reiterated the readiness of the Government of India to work together as partners as Sri Lanka forges ahead after three decades of armed conflict. Expressing his happiness at the rapid progress achieved in recent years in improving the indicators of maternal and child health in the estate sector, he assured the full support of the Government of India to provide a further fillip to these efforts. In this context, High Commissioner outlined four thrust areas of Indian assistance in the estate areas, viz. health-care, education (through expansion of the existing scholarship programme, capacity building and setting up of vocational training centres), transport connectivity (through provision of buses) and housing. Terming housing as one of the areas of priority, he announced the plan of the Government of India to build a significant number of housing units for estate workers in Central and Uva provinces to enable them to move out of ‘line rooms’ into individual housing units. The modalities of the project are being finalised.

The 150 bed hospital at Dickoya will be built under grant assistance of the Government of India at an estimated cost of SLR 1200 million. Hospital Services Consultation Corporation Ltd (HSCC) India is the Project Management Consultant for the project. The completed multi-specialty hospital will have seven operation theatres and will provide services in the areas of General Medicine, Respiratory Disease, Dermatology, Venereology, Leprosy, Pediatrics, General Surgery, Burns Unit, Obstetrics & Gynecology etc. Work on the project has already commenced and the hospital is expected to be commissioned in early 2013.

The establishment of this new hospital in the Central Province will augment the facilities in the existing Dickoya Base hospital and provide health services to a large number of people living in Hatton, Dickoya, Norwood, Udamaskeliya, Maskeliya, Bogawanthalawa, Kotagala, Wattawala, Ginigathane and in around 28 estates nearby.