History

The Accident & Orthopaedic Service (AOS) of the National Hospital of Sri Lanka is the Level 1 Trauma Care Centre in Sri Lanka. It was declared open in 15-03-1991 & constructed under the Development Coordination Program between Republic of Finland & Sri Lankan Government.

The Accident and Orthopaedic services of the National Hospital of Sri Lanka is the premier designated trauma care centre in Sri Lanka. It treats about 100,000 patients per annum of which almost 1/3 are given in- house care.

In Sri Lanka, traumatic injuries are the leading cause of hospitalization, accounting for 16% of the admission in government hospitals in 2012. The Accident and Orthopaedic services being the largest and the best equipped trauma care centre in Sri Lanka caters to those who are injured in accidents.

It has experienced many mass casualty incidents especially since the time the North- East conflict erupted. The worst disaster that the Accident and Orthopaedic services of the National Hospital of Sri Lanka managed was the bomb blast at Fort near the Central Bank on 31st January 1996, killing 60 and injuring 1350 innocent persons.

The eight storied Accident and Orthopaedic services building was constructed and equipped under the General Hospital, Colombo, rehabilitation project which was funded by the Finland government and declared open in 1991 by the late President R. Premadasa.

The Accident and Orthopaedic service consists of three operating theatres, two Intensive Care Units, two Observation wards, Blood bank and Radiological facilities including X rays, CT and MRI which are functioning 24 hours/ 365 days to facilitate the services and a casualty team including a casualty surgeon  physically present at the premises at all times.
The Orthopaedic department of the accident service consists of four units with bed strength of four hundred and thirty which functions under direct supervision of four senior consultant Orthopaedic surgeons.

The Accident service was further expanded with the opening of the Neuro-trauma centre at the National Hospital of Sri Lanka in 2011 by His Excellency the President Mahinda Rajapaksha. This centre was constructed and fully equipped at a cost of Rs. 3000 million and the funds for this project was provided by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The Neuro-trauma centre is equipped with an Emergency Treatment Unit, 8 operation theatres, 6 ICU units inclusive of 66 beds, a High Dependency Unit and Wards with 228 beds   to provide a better service for head injury patients. A Helipad is also built to facilitate transfer of critical patients by helicopters in case of emergency.

 AOS has following facilities

1. Receiving Area : Resuscitation Room, Yellow & Green areas, Plaster Room, Burn Room, Disaster Stocks,Two Static X ray Rooms with Mobile X ray facilities, Blood Bank

2. Intensive Care Unit : 6 Beds with ventilators

3. High Dependency Unit : 4 Beds with ventilators

4. Operation Theatre : 3 Theatre Suits

5. Central Sterile Supply Department

6. Casualty Wards : Ward 72 Male, 46 Beds, Ward 73  Female, 46 Beds

On average, it treats about 300 patients per day, averaging about 100,000 patients per year. About 30, 000 patients are treated as in ward.

It has experienced many mass casualty incidents, during North East Conflict, & played a vital role in the health sector.

The worst disaster that the hospital managed was the Central Bank Bomb blast on 31-01-1996 & hospital received nearly 1300 patients in less than one hour time.

Summary of Major Incidents / Disasters / Assassinations handled by AOS is as follows.