A bouquet to LRH

This is a personal accolade and a bouquet to that premier medical institution, the Lady Ridgeway Hospital (LRH) for Children, in Borella.

They were kind enough to administer the first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to me on the 3rd of February 2021, as I was deemed to be a frontline health worker. I was due for the second dose, as they commenced the second round of the vaccination on 29th April 2021. I reported to that hospital on 30th April 2021 and they promptly gave me the second dose of the vaccine.

In my professional life, I have spent a total of around 17 years at this hospital, in all possible positions, such as Intern House Physician, Medical Officer OPD, Paediatric Registrar, Resident Paediatrician, Visiting Paediatrician of the OPD and, finally, as the Visiting Paediatrician in charge of Unit No.9 for 12 years, before my retirement. For me, that hospital was a home away from home, in a career spanning 37 years.

When I reported there for my jabs, I was treated extremely well – in fact, virtually like a VVIP. Although I was more than willing to wait in a queue, they would not even hear of it; an unsolicited privilege. The nurses and the Sisters were most kind, younger medical colleagues made sure that I was attended to immediately, and two of my younger consultant colleagues stayed there on standby, just in case anything went even slightly wrong. I was observed after the injection for about half an hour and was then released. A young consultant came with me even to my car, across the Maradana Road, to ensure that all was well.

With me, there were several other retired consultants of similar vintage who came for the vaccine, who were also treated in the very same manner. To say the least, it was ever so lovely to have been treated that way, in that very same hospital where my heart really lies.

I also saw many other healthcare workers of all kinds, of different grades of the hospital, getting their shots. They, too, were treated extremely well and really the same way as we were treated. It was not only us, perhaps the privileged, who were treated so very well.

So, take a bow, the administration and all staff at the Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children; you are, indeed, the best of the very best.

Thank you so much, from the bottom of my heart.

Dr. B. J. C. PERERA

Specialist Consultant Paediatrician