Paediatric Pulmonology
Paediatric Pulmonology Unit which provides specialized services to address childhood respiratory issues is one of the latest services added to the wide spectrum of services provided by the Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children, Colombo. The main objective of this unit is to establish state of the art in providing a holistic care to manage respiratory health and ill-health in neonates, infants, children and young people of Sri Lanka and make them breathe comfortably.
Although this is a novel unit, the services provided are rapidly expanding at the moment according to the demand. There are many more services in the pipeline which will be added in future alongside the acquisition of more human and physical resources. Some of them are new pulmonary functions tests including nasal and exhaled Nitric Oxide assessment, sleep studies, expanded provision of longterm respiratory support, allergy testing and advanced pulmonary rehabilitation with the use of state of the art equipments.
Dr. Channa de Silva
Consultant Paediatric Pulmonologist
Dr. Ganganath Gunathilaka
Consultant Paediatric Pulmonologist
Pediatric Chest Clinic is dedicated to arrange long term management and follow up of children with chronic respiratory disorders. Now the clinic reviews are done on appointment basis to provide an individualized care more effectively. An appointment can be obtained by contacting the published number of the unit for already registered patients and new patients who have an appropriate referral letter.
| Name of Consultant | Speciality | Ward | Clinic Room | Day of the week |
| Dr. Channa de Silva | Consultant Peadiatric Pulmonologist | Paediatric Pulmonology Unit | 30 | Friday 08am-12noon |
| 30 | Saturday 08am-12noon |
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| Dr. Ganganath Gunathilaka | Consultant Peadiatric Pulmonologist | Paediatric Pulmonology Unit | 26 | Tuesday 08am-12noon |
The main respiratory conditions out of a wide range which are managed at the Paediatric Pulmonology Unit and Paediatric Chest Clinic, LRH:
- Paediatric wheezing, allergy and asthma, especially uncontrolled or severe asthma
- Respiratory conditions of newboran babies
- Congenital malformations of the respiratory system
- Cystic fibrosis and non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis due to any aetiology
- Childhood interstitial lung diseases and lung diseases secondary to systemic disorders
- Complicated or chronic respiratory infections in children including Tuberculosis
- Respiratory complications of neuromuscular and skeletal disorders
- Sleep related breathing disorders
- Assessment of respiratory functions due to any indication
- Any chronic respiratory disorder which needs pulmonary rehabilitation
We receive referrals from all the medical wards, surgical wards, specialized units and all the intensive care units which include medical, surgical, neonatal and cardio thoracic ICU of LRH to share the care of complicated respiratory issues of children. In addition, we receive referrals from many hospitals across the country.
Other key services provided:
- Pulmonary functions tests including BD reversibility, exercise tests and 6 min walk test.
- Aerosol therapy
- Airway clearance techniques
- Home Oxygen and Long term non-invasive mechanical respiratory support
- Paediatric flexible bronchoscopies (in collaboration with the ENT unit at the LRH)
In addition to the patient care, this unit actively involves in postgraduate education, conducting scientific studies related to paediatric respiratory medicine and contributing formation of national guidelines. Paediatric asthma, paediatric respiratory infections and paediatric tuberculosis are some national guidelines and SLCP guidelines on management of COVID-19 in children which have already been contributed and published.