Would continue to operate as a teaching hospital under Health Ministry:
Clinical training to be given at Homagama and Avissawella Hospitals :
The Health Ministry will initiate proceedings to bring the Neville Fernando Teaching Hospital under the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Higher Education and Highways said in a statement yesterday.
The statement, signed by Higher Education and Highways Ministry Acting Secretary Jayanthi Wijeythunga, said the Neville Fernando Hospital would continue to operate as a teaching hospital under the Health Ministry.
Additionally, the Ministry said, South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM) students who have passed their final MBBS examination would be given further clinical training – extending a month each – in the areas of surgery, medicine, gynaecology and obstetrics, psychiatry and pediatrics, at the Homagama and Avissawella Hospitals.
Subsequent to this training, candidates will undergo a mandatory examination under the joint supervision of the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) and the University Grants Commission (UGC) for provisional registration, the statement said.
It added that it would also gazette the minimum standards for medical education in Sri Lanka, as submitted by the Sri Lanka Medical Council, with the approval of the Attorney General’s Department.
These decisions arrived at by the Ministry of Higher Education and Highways are in resolution to the issue relating to the South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine, chaired by Dr. Neville Fernando. Political parties and trade unions have alleged the Neville Fernando Teaching Hospital, which operates within the South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine, is not a teaching hospital fit to pass out MBBS graduates.
SAITM medical graduates have also come under fire by local university students, trade unions political parties and even the Sri Lanka Medical Council who allege the private medical institute is not suitable to offer medical degrees.