The Nuclear Medicine Unit of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ruhuna was officially established in November 1991 with the approval from the University Grants Commission. Subsequently, the radioimmunoassay (RIA) laboratory was re-organized in 1997 as part of an agreement made with the Ministry of Health and the Atomic Energy Authority to provide the reagents and the technical support, the NMU established a radio-diagnostic service on thyroid and reproductive hormones. This service function was started in October 1998, for the inward and out patients of the Southern Province and extended to the patients sent from the private hospitals on clinician’s requests.

Since then the NMU is the only public sector immunodiagnostic service provider in the Southern Province. The service function has been further expanded and is provided on 20 different hormones and tumor markers. Our main intention is to improve our service function, maintain the reliability results and improve quality of the services liaise to the international standards. Service on radioiodine therapy will be started in 2008. Southern Regional Network of Screening Newborns for Congenital Hypothyroidism was established in 2009 which wave the pathway to National Newborn Screening for Congenital Hypothyroidism in 2016.

Presently the NMU is providing an expanded panel on newborn screening with the continuation of enhanced scientific research studies.