 Homagama Base Hospital converted into new facility By Maheesha Mudugamuwa As the Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH) at Angoda exceeded its capacity on Wednesday (29), the Homagama Base Hospital will be used as a treatment facility for Covid-19 patients, said Director General of Health Services (DGHS) Dr. Anil Jasinghe, speaking at the National Operations Centre for Prevention of Covid-19. Till then, the Homagama Base Hospital had only provided treatment to those suspected of having the coronavirus. Currently, Covid-19 patients are being housed at IDH, Welikanda Hospital, Colombo East Base Hospital, Iranawila Hospital, Kattankudy Hospital, Minuwangoda Hospital, and the Welisara Navy Hospital. The IDH, on Wednesday, said they exceeded their full capacity in treating Covid-19 patients, and that currently it housed 140 Covid-19 patients with 10 more suspected patients undergoing treatment at the IDH. IDH consultant physician Dr. Ananda Wijewickrama said the initial plan was to treat about 120 patients at the hospital. However, with the spike in recent navy cases, the hospital had taken some of them in. The total number of reported Covid-19 cases in the country is 653, while 503 patients are currently hospitalised and 139 patients have recovered and have been discharged from hospitals, as at the time of writing, according to the Epidemiology Unit of the Ministry of Health. Seven Covid-19-related deaths have been reported in the country.