The Department of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care was established in early 2020 and is the latest department at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo.
The department is involved in teaching and training undergraduates from introductory clinical sciences until the final year professorial appointments. Basic Life Support (BLS) and Advanced Life Support (ALS) training is provided for the final year students during the surgery professorial appointment. In addition, the academic staff members contribute to teaching in various modules during the undergraduate training period. Our service provision lies in providing anaesthesia for general surgical procedures, gastrointestinal surgery, hepatobiliary surgery, laparoscopic procedures, vascular and transplant surgery including paediatric renal transplants, gynaecological, neonatal and paediatric surgery. We conduct pre -operative assessment clinics weekly at the outpatient department building of the National Hospital of Sri Lanka.
A postgraduate trainee (registrar) in anaesthesiology undergoes supervised training for a period of three months in rotation with us. The Department also provides training to senior registrars with a special interest in transplant anaesthesia for a period of two months. Diploma in critical care trainees and Senior Registrars undergoing Post MD critical care training undergoes anaesthesia training with us for 1 month and 3months respectively.
The academic staff members of the department are involved in the management of patients admitted to the Professorial surgical and gynaecology units at the National Hospital of Sri Lanka and the university surgical unit of the Lady Ridgeway Hospital for children. They also provide their services to the National Institute of Nephrology, Dialysis and Transplant and the Military Hospital, in Colombo.
The department has elective medical students visiting from the United Kingdom, Europe, Switzerland, Sweden, Australia, Malaysia and the United States of America. We welcome and encourage elective appointments for students from overseas.
Currently, the department consists of three academic staff members, a professor and two senior lecturers in anaesthesiology. Our professional and clinical commitment lie with both the university and providing anaesthesia to a wide variety of surgical sub-specialities.
Several research papers have been presented both locally and internationally by the three academic staff members as well as undergraduate and post graduate trainees attached to our unit. To date, several research publications have been published in overseas indexed journals.
We constantly endeavor to provide optimal care to the patients and the healthcare system of the country as well as teaching and training both undergraduates and postgraduate trainees in anesthesiology and related fields.
