Sri Lanka Rehabilitation Clinic: A Partnership between IWCBF & Dr. Chandini Perera of the National Hospital of Sri Lanka.The burn rehab clinic established in May of 2000 is unique in Sri Lanka. It is now 15 years old.
It offers a one stop solution for all aspects of burn rehabilitation. The staffing currently consists of two medical officers, two physiotherapists, a trained counselor, one consultant plastic surgeon and two skilled senior burn nurses. There is also a seamstress providing custom made pressure garments from locally sourced material to fit our cultural practices.
"There are two rehabilitation clinics per week and the unique aspect is that it is the same team that offers acute care for the patient. Every patient minor or major is followed up for 18 months. At the end of eighteen months the patient is discharged or scheduled for secondary surgeries. All patients have a written and pictorial documentation of their scars. Other services from this clinic include training for physiotherapists and rehabilitation workshops."
"Beginning in June 2015, we now have a separate session of televised free education programming for burn prevention by senior burn nurses. With the help of Rick Sieller in 2010, we have established Uvex masks for patients with challenging facial burns. Mr. Sieller also established a system to record and document every patient who is followed up in the clinic with photos. The concept of this clinic is unique in that it is based in a public hospital. As such there is no separate rehabilitation hospital available for burn rehabilitation. The gain is in the prevention of disability and deformities and earning capacity thereby saving life, livelihoods and families. It is not a boast to say this unit offers some of the best outcomes in neck, hand and facial burns following very severe burns."
-Dra. Chandini Perera
Chief of Plastic & Burn Surgery, National Hospital of Sri Lanka
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