Jaffna Teaching Hospital secures lifeline water supply via ADB-funded Thalaiyadi sea water desalination plant

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has funded a sea water reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination plant in Thalaiyadi, which has significantly enhanced the Jaffna Teaching Hospital's water supply. Serving as the main healthcare institution in the Northern Province, the 1,550-bed hospital has a long-standing reputation for excellence and offers specialized services such as neurosurgery, open-heart surgery, kidney transplants, and bone marrow transplants.

The hospital currently accommodates over 1,500 inpatients daily, with up to 2,800 clinic visitors and a total operational population of around 10,000 people in its sprawling 13.5-acre campus.

Prior to the desalination plant, the hospital relied on local groundwater, which had high calcium concentrations causing mineral buildup and damaging expensive equipment. The new Thalaiyadi seawater desalination plant, with a capacity of 24,000 cubic meters per day, provides purified, low-calcium water that protects critical medical equipment and supplies essential water to high-priority areas like operating theaters, ICUs, and public drinking facilities.

Currently, desalinated water covers approximately 30% of the hospital's total usage, while the remaining 70% still depends on older piping networks.

The hospital management plans to overhaul internal distribution lines to fully utilize the desalinated water, ensuring clean water for all wards. The ADB is also structuring a new municipal wastewater treatment project for Jaffna, which will replace the hospital's aging waste treatment system. The desalination plant's environmental management includes a strategic offshore intake system, low-velocity grilles, brine discharge guidelines, and rapid brine dispersion to protect the coastal ecosystem and local fishing community.