the hospital had 21 wards in 1864. when the colombo medical school was established in 1870 it was based at the hospital's female surgical ward. in 1875 mudaliyar samson rajapakse gifted three and a half acres of land on which colombo medical school's successor, the faculty of medicine, university of colombo, stands today. the hospital became the first in the country to employ female nurses with the arrival of an english nurse in 1878. the hospital found it difficult to recruit nurses locally so the hospital authorities requested the help of catholic nuns who served in the hospital from 1886 to 1964.