ComBank donates life-saving equipment to Children’s Heart Centre of LRH

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon recently donated an Activated Clotting Time (ACT) machine and 20 syringe pumps to the Children’s Heart Centre of the Lady Ridgeway Hospital in Colombo to be used in three Cardiac Theatres and two Intensive Care Units.

The Accriva Hemochron Signature Elite model ACT machine was presented at the request of the Centre which is the only dedicated facility in Sri Lanka to perform cardiac surgeries on children born with heart defects free of charge. New born babies weighing as low as 500 grams to 20 year olds are treated at this facility, with the Centre performing up to 1,200 surgeries every year. The donated machine will replace the old ACT machine that is prone to malfunction, and will be used primarily to monitor high doses of unfractionated heparin therapy, helping prevent catastrophic internal bleeding and blood clots during surgery. It will also help monitor blood thinness of those on drugs after surgery. The latest model of the machine requires only a minute quantity of blood for monitoring and is ideal for babies.

The syringe pumps will be used to infuse miniscule dosages of medication needed in to the delicate veins of babies, mainly to anaesthetise and provide pain relief. Commercial Bank’s donation of vital equipment will aid in providing optimal surgical care and post-operative care to children who require early replacements of a heart and undergo major heart surgery, the Centre said.

The Bank had previously donated an Anaesthesia Workstation with a ventilator for a new cardiac operating theatre named HOPE (Heart Operations Performed Early) that was set up at the Lady Ridgeway Hospital with the objective of offering surgery to an additional 500 children a year who required medical assistance but were on the waiting list at the time. The equipment has since helped hundreds of children undergo complex heart surgeries.

Pictured here are representatives of the Commercial Bank and the Lady Ridgeway Hospital at the donation of the equipment.