The Ministry of Health of Sri Lanka has selected the Healthcare Accreditation Institute (Public Organization), or HAI, of Thailand as a benchmark for developing its own national healthcare accreditation system. Sri Lankan officials expressed high expectations to adapt the knowledge and experiences gained from this study visit to their domestic healthcare context. 

Dr. Sagari Kiriwandeniya, Deputy Director General (Medical Services) of the Patient Safety and Accreditation Bureau (PSAB), Ministry of Health of Sri Lanka, shared her insights following a study visit focused on Thailand's Healthcare Accreditation (HA) process. She stated that this visit marks a significant milestone in academic and professional cooperation between Thailand and Sri Lanka, fully supported by the World Health Organization (WHO), which will actively strengthen Sri Lanka’s healthcare accreditation system toward international standards. 

"Since Sri Lanka is in the inception phase of developing its healthcare quality and accreditation system, analyzing structures from various countries led us to Thailand. We found that Thailand shares similar social structures, cultural nuances, behaviors, and public expectations with Sri Lanka. Furthermore, as an upper-middle-income country, Thailand serves as a more practical and realistic benchmark for us than a fully developed nation. Our delegation highly anticipates adapting the knowledge and insights gained from HAI and Thai hospitals to our system," said Dr. Kiriwandeniya. 

Dr. Malkanthi Mediwaka, Director of PSAB, added: "On this visit to Thailand, PSAB aimed to learn about system establishment and the practical implementation of accreditation standards in healthcare facilities, including understanding the challenges, advantages, and disadvantages prior to full-scale implementation in Sri Lanka. HAI transparently provided comprehensive data, covering their history, operational methodologies, and obstacles faced. We also conducted field visits to observe actual success stories. We would like to express our gratitude to Dr. Piyawan Limpanyalerth, CEO of HAI, her team, and the WHO for supporting this study visit. We highly commend HAI’s impressive operational and management systems. Although the people of our two nations may differ in appearance, our shared mindset made this learning experience seamless and highly effective." 

Dr. Piyawan Limpanyalerth, CEO of HAI, noted that this study visit was coordinated by the WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia (WHO SEARO), of which Thailand is a member. The Ministry of Health of Sri Lanka sought to study the Hospital Accreditation process to drive implementation in their country. This served as an excellent opportunity for Thailand to act as a platform for knowledge exchange, fostering collaboration to strengthen healthcare service systems through the Hospital Accreditation process together. 

Key Highlights of the Study Visit 

The high-level delegation from the Patient Safety and Accreditation Bureau, Ministry of Health of Sri Lanka—led by Dr. Sagari Kiriwandeniya and comprising 10 delegates—participated in the study visit to exchange knowledge on Thailand's healthcare accreditation system from June 15–19, 2026. 

Over the 5-day program, the Sri Lankan delegation engaged in vital topics, including: 

Healthcare Governance and Financing: Conducted in collaboration with the National Health Security Office (NHSO) and the Department of Health Service Support (DHSS), Ministry of Public Health. 

End-to-End Healthcare Accreditation Process: Covering application, self-assessment, and the survey process. 

Capacity Building: Surveyor capacity building and the practical application of standards in both tertiary and primary care settings. 

Site Inspections (Success Stories): 

Thammasat University Hospital: To study quality development models in a tertiary care hospital. 

Tha Ruea Hospital (Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Province): To learn about district-level health system operations and community healthcare service integration.