| Medical students attached to state universities have expressed opposition to the creation of a medical faculty at a private university due to open later this year. Representatives of the medical community fear graduates of the South Asian Institute of Technology and Management (SAITM) will have no proper training to serve as doctors.
The South Asian Institute of Technology and Management will see its first intake of students in September. The five-storey institute, built on four acres of land in Malabe, has been described as “state of the art”, with the latest in educational facilities, including an auditorium that can seat 350, a 10,000 square foot student lounge and a cafeteria.
The tertiary education institution will have faculties dedicated to medicine, information technology, “new media”, communication and languages. The equipment required for the various faculties has already arrived in Sri Lanka.
The medical faculty will be affiliated with the Nizhny Novgorod State Academy of Medicine, in Russia, which is considered one of Russia’s leading higher medicine institutions. It is also recognized by the Sri Lanka Medical Council.
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| The Nizhny Novgorod State Academy of
Medicine, in Russia |
Medical faculty students at the institute will complete the first four years of their undergraduate studies in Sri Lanka and their final year at the parent university in Russia.
Medical students at state universities have expressed concerns about the teaching standard, facilities and training to be offered in the institute’s medical degree programme.
Speaking to The Sunday Times, Udul Premaratne, convenor of the Inter-University Students’ Union, expressed doubts that a private university would provide the same high educational and training standards of government universities.
For example, he said, the state has made a big investment in the University of Peradeniya for the national good, and thousands of students have benefited, and so has the country. With a private university, the profits are enjoyed by private investors, he said.
Mr. Premaratne said President Mahinda Rajapaksa, in his Mahinda Chinthanaya speech, stressed that the government university system would be developed and that there would be no private universities. However, ministers of his government were now saying that private universities were necessary for the country.
Kasun Weerakkody, president of the Colombo Medical Faculty Students’ Union, said the SAITM had so far not had government approval. “Without permission, you can’t set up a private university,” he said.
Mr. Weerakkody said exposure to clinical training was essential for a medical student, and that University of Colombo medical students received clinical training at the National Hospital; the Lady Ridgeway Hospital, the Castle Street Maternity Hospital, the Angoda Mental Hospital, and the Maharagama Cancer Hospital.
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| The South Asian Institute of Technology and Management, in Malabe, will see its first intake of students in September. |
“According to the SAITM prospectus, the institute will give its students clinical exposure at just two private hospitals,” said Mr. Weerakkody, adding that SAITM-qualified graduates would be ill-equipped to practise as doctors in Sri Lanka. “The only way to get a proper clinical training is through state hospitals.”
Mr. Weerakkody said only students who had excelled at their GCE Advanced Level entered the medical faculties of state universities, and that those students had demonstrated their dedication to being doctors with their high academic scores. He said anyone with Rs. 5.5 million could enter the South Asian Institute of Technology and Management.
“Meanwhile, the medical faculties of several state universities, such as the Rajarata University, need to be expanded and developed. We should be thinking of building up and equipping our established state institutions before we think about a private university.”
“According to the Minister of Health, Nimal Siripala de Silva, there will be no further job vacancies for doctors after 2010. “If that is the state of the job market for doctors, then why are we setting up an institution that will create more doctors than the country needs?” the minister asked.
Mr. Weerakkody of the Colombo Medical Faculty Students’ Union said a medical degree course at a university in China or Malaysia would cost between Rs. 1.5 and Rs. 2 million, while a medical degree course at the SAITM would cost Rs.5 million, and that half of that money would go to the parent university in Russia.
Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) registrar Dr. M. G. Nonis told The Sunday Times that the council would be reviewing the SAITM Medical Faculty to see if it was up to standard.
Minister for Higher Education Professor Wishwa Warnapala said the government had yet to take a decision on the SAITM, and that discussions were under way.
Country in great need of medicos
As a 100 per cent private educational institution, the South Asian Institute of Technology and Management (SAITM) requires only the approval of the Sri Lanka Board of Investment to start operations, according to the institute’s chairman Dr. Neville Fernando. The institute’s medical faculty degree programme will be submitted to the Sri Lanka Medical Council for review, he added.
“The chairman of the University Grants Commission [UGC] has written to inform us that the establishment of the private university does not fall within the purview of the UGC, under the University Act of 1978,” he said.
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| Dr. Neville Fernando |
“The Sri Lanka Medical Council has already given its approval for the institute’s medical faculty to work in association with the Nizhny Novgorod State Medical Academy.”
The SAITM chairman said the institute had already received 300 applications. He said admissions would be decided once the GCE Advanced Level results were released.“Because of the stringent Z score arrangement in our present examinations system, a lot of talented students are missing a chance to enter university, especially in urban areas.
Students with very good Advanced Level results who fail to enter university can apply to our private university. Please note that we will not be taking students with simple passes. We are also targeting foreign students, so our standards will be accordingly high.”
“The Minister of Education in the Maldives visited our campus on Thursday. We will be going to the Maldives for an education exhibition, where we will be promoting the South Asian Institute of Technology and Management,” he said.
Dr. Fernando said students of the SAITM medical faculty would get “plenty of clinical exposure” at five private hospitals.
Asked about the opposition to the SAITM, Dr. Fernando there were misconceptions in Sri Lanka about privatising education and establishing private educational institutes. “That is one of the reasons behind the hate campaign university students are conducting these days,” he said.
Asked whether Sri Lanka would have a sufficient number of doctors by 2010, Dr. Fernando said: “There will be no such thing as unfilled vacancies for doctors. The WHO says there should be at least one doctor for every 400 patients. This means we should have at least 50,000 doctors available in the country.”
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