President Maithripala Sirisena should waithdraw the January 26 gazette notification on Minimum Standards for Medical Education with immediate effect, Executive Committee representative of the Parents’ Union of Medical Students Ashoka Ranwala said.
Addressing a press conference held at the Organization of Professionals Association (OPA) in Colombo yesterday, he said the gazette notification had been issued to influence the Supreme Court judgement to be given soon on the SAITM issue.
“The minimum qualification to enter into a medical faculty should be the minimum qualification obtained by a Sri Lankan medical student to enter into a state medical faculty in the immediate previous year. It should be three (3) B passes for now,” he said.
The union said they will re-commence their fast unto death again if the Government does not abolish the gazette notification and abolish SAITM as promised to the country through a public declaration.
“No one is against offering a state MBBS to all qualified SAITM students through the KDU or any other state medical faculty. But the politicians who obtained millions and billions of rupees as commissions from foreign university owners are against abolishing SAITM because they cannot open any more private medical faculties in Sri Lanka if that happens,” he said.