News
Lecture-hall doors are wide open and lecturers, professors await medical students tomorrow
Will the state medical faculty students return to their lecture halls tomorrow after many months of demonstrations, protests and keeping vigil in attala?
This is the question on the minds of many, with sources telling the Sunday Times that the eight state medical faculties have got assurances that they will return tomorrow.
“There are different batches which have different calendars and what we have been told is that those due to come back to their lectures will do so. There may be a little variation in the different medical faculties but the students are expected,” a source said.
Another source stressed that the lecture-hall doors are wide open and the lecturers and professors are awaiting their students with open arms.
This is in light of a solution to the saga of the private medical faculty under the South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM) announced by the government on October 29.
The second meeting of the nine-member Presidential Committee headed by Deputy Minister Dr. Harsha de Silva appointed by President Maithripala Sirisena to implement the solution is scheduled for next week. The process of implementing the solution is due to be completed by December 31.
The committee’s first meeting was held on November 9 to set the terms of reference (TOR) and discussions were held on how to proceed, with broad consensus being achieved on the implementation of the eight recommendations in the solution. The members of the committee had agreed that they need to seek legal, financial and technical advice, the Sunday Times learns.
The other members of the committee are: Health Ministry Secretary Janaka Sugathadasa, Higher Education Ministry Secretary C. Dissanayake, University Grants Commission (UGC) Chairman Prof. Mohan de Silva, Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) President Prof. Colvin Goonaratna, Colombo University Vice Chancellor Prof. Lakshman Dissanayake, Sri Jayewardenepura University Vice Chancellor Prof. Sampath Amaratunge, Colombo Medical Faculty Dean Prof. Jennifer Perera and Ragama Medical Faculty Dean Prof. Nilanthi de Silva.
A representative each from the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA), the Association of Medical Specialists (AMS), the Federation of Faculty of Medicine Teachers’ Associations (FFMTA), the State Medical Students’ Parents’ Association and the SAITM’s Parent Association had sat in on the meeting as ‘observers’.
Meanwhile, the Attorney General’s (AG’s) Department had tabled a motion in the Supreme Court (SC) this Monday (November 13) — when the appeal filed by the SLMC against a Court of Appeal decision ordering the registration of a SAITM student – came up for hearing.
When the AG’s Department asked for time to reach a settlement based on the recommendations contained in the government statement and the postponement of the SC hearings till January 2018 to allow time for the settlement, objections had been raised by both counsel for the SAITM graduate and SAITM with a request that hearings should continue.
One of the three judges hearing the case had declared that he had a conflict of interest and sought to be recused. The hearings of the SC are due on Tuesday (November 21).