SAITM රජයට ගැනීමට සියල්ල සූදානම් .... රජයේ නිවේදන
The seemingly endless SAITM saga is now at a crossroads with the Government and the Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) locked in an apparent stalemate, unable to agree on what the next move ought to be.
Yesterday (June 27), the UNP and the SLFP, the two constituent parties of the Yahapalana Government, set aside their growing political differences for a moment to put up a united front in the face of rising public resentment and strong trade union action from the GMOA as well as increasingly violent protests from the Inter University Student Federation (IUSF).
Government Extends Olive Branch
Speaking to the media, Ministers Kabir Hashim and Duminda Dissanayake, the General Secretaries of the UNP and SLFP, respectively, offered three possible solutions to the crisis—based on a statement previously made by President Maithripala Sirisena. In his statement, the President had promised to issue a gazette notification prohibiting the controversial private medical college (PMC) from enrolling new students and awarding degrees to existing undergraduates until and unless some conditions were fulfilled. The proposed solutions are:
Make SAITM a non-profit entity run by a State appointed trust
Turn it into a public private partnership or PPP
Have the Government take over a majority stake (51%) and sell the rest in the stock market
“The idea is to select the best option. It will be studied further before a final decision is made,” said Minister Hashim.
The conditions to be spelt out in the impending gazette notification will be decided upon discussion with all stakeholders, said Hashim, reiterating that until those conditions are met, SAITM will not be allowed to recruit students or award degrees.
Ministers Kabir Hashim and Duminda Dissanayake spelling out the govt’s position. Image courtesy Daily FT
According to the statement issued by the President, the promised gazette notification will include the following:
-Admission of students to SAITM and offer of degrees will be stopped until the SAITM will fulfil relevant conditions of the government’s gazette.
-As the minimum standards of medical education should be ensured under the law and expeditiously gazette the minimum standards of medical education.
-No institute and person should influence the autonomy and the impartiality of Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC).
-Formation of current courses of SAITM according to a method accepted by the SLMC and forming a system to register the degrees which have already been offered.
-Informing the government’s position about the SAITM, to the Supreme Court. (sic)
Meanwhile, a Cabinet paper by Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne proposing the nationalisation of the Neville De Silva hospital—attached to SAITM—in Malabe was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers yesterday, with the objective of converting it to a state teaching hospital.
We Didn’t Start The Fire
Conceding that SAITM has been mired in legitimate concerns since its establishment, Minister Hashim said that when the controversial institute was first approved by the previous government, those declaring war on the government today could’ve done something to put a stop to it before it escalated.
“Any opposition to SAITM could’ve been expressed when SAITM was established, and the problem could’ve been resolved right then and there. Now it’s become this big thing, because those with vested interests waited till now to gain political mileage out of the issue,” he said.
“There were shortcomings when SAITM began, yes. When the new government came into power in 2015, we inherited this problem. All these issues were already there. None of this started on January 8, 2015. But here we are, trying to resolve it without damaging the students or the country’s medical system,” he added.
The Minister blamed the ongoing student protests on the previous regime, while insisting that the Government was committed to resolving the issue amicably without compromising on free education and the quality of the profession.
IUSF students protesting SAITM. Image credit: Roar/G. Gamage
“We’re committed to protecting free education. Establishing PMCs doesn’t mean that state medical students are no longer a priority. We’re taking steps to further improve state medical education by opening new faculties. Land has been allocated in Ratnapura, for example, to convert the hospital there to a teaching hospital. Plans are also underway to increase student intake in state facilities,” he said.
There’s a shortage of 6,000 doctors in this country, said Hashim, adding that there aren’t enough medical graduates to compensate for this.
“Rs. 2 billion is spent annually just for our students to go abroad and get the medical degree. The SLMC accepts 232 foreign universities. That money can be saved at a place like SAITM, as long as it’s up to standard,” he said.
The Government is, according to the Minister, confident the matter can finally be put to rest.
“We have to resolve this without hurting the SAITM graduates, without hurting free education, without compromising on the standards of the SLMC. Both the President and the Prime Minister are committed to this. We believe this can be solved in a pragmatic manner,” he said.
හැමෝම 100% එකඟ වෙන විසඳුමක් කවදාවත් හැදෙන්නේ නෑ
අවම පිරිසක් අපහසුතාවට ලක්වීම තමා කරන්න ඕනි
මොනව වුණත් ආණ්ඩුව මේක විසදීමට තීරණය කිරීම ලොකු දෙයක්
The seemingly endless SAITM saga is now at a crossroads with the Government and the Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) locked in an apparent stalemate, unable to agree on what the next move ought to be.
Yesterday (June 27), the UNP and the SLFP, the two constituent parties of the Yahapalana Government, set aside their growing political differences for a moment to put up a united front in the face of rising public resentment and strong trade union action from the GMOA as well as increasingly violent protests from the Inter University Student Federation (IUSF).
Government Extends Olive Branch
Speaking to the media, Ministers Kabir Hashim and Duminda Dissanayake, the General Secretaries of the UNP and SLFP, respectively, offered three possible solutions to the crisis—based on a statement previously made by President Maithripala Sirisena. In his statement, the President had promised to issue a gazette notification prohibiting the controversial private medical college (PMC) from enrolling new students and awarding degrees to existing undergraduates until and unless some conditions were fulfilled. The proposed solutions are:
Make SAITM a non-profit entity run by a State appointed trust
Turn it into a public private partnership or PPP
Have the Government take over a majority stake (51%) and sell the rest in the stock market
“The idea is to select the best option. It will be studied further before a final decision is made,” said Minister Hashim.
The conditions to be spelt out in the impending gazette notification will be decided upon discussion with all stakeholders, said Hashim, reiterating that until those conditions are met, SAITM will not be allowed to recruit students or award degrees.
Ministers Kabir Hashim and Duminda Dissanayake spelling out the govt’s position. Image courtesy Daily FT
According to the statement issued by the President, the promised gazette notification will include the following:
-Admission of students to SAITM and offer of degrees will be stopped until the SAITM will fulfil relevant conditions of the government’s gazette.
-As the minimum standards of medical education should be ensured under the law and expeditiously gazette the minimum standards of medical education.
-No institute and person should influence the autonomy and the impartiality of Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC).
-Formation of current courses of SAITM according to a method accepted by the SLMC and forming a system to register the degrees which have already been offered.
-Informing the government’s position about the SAITM, to the Supreme Court. (sic)
Meanwhile, a Cabinet paper by Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne proposing the nationalisation of the Neville De Silva hospital—attached to SAITM—in Malabe was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers yesterday, with the objective of converting it to a state teaching hospital.
We Didn’t Start The Fire
Conceding that SAITM has been mired in legitimate concerns since its establishment, Minister Hashim said that when the controversial institute was first approved by the previous government, those declaring war on the government today could’ve done something to put a stop to it before it escalated.
“Any opposition to SAITM could’ve been expressed when SAITM was established, and the problem could’ve been resolved right then and there. Now it’s become this big thing, because those with vested interests waited till now to gain political mileage out of the issue,” he said.
“There were shortcomings when SAITM began, yes. When the new government came into power in 2015, we inherited this problem. All these issues were already there. None of this started on January 8, 2015. But here we are, trying to resolve it without damaging the students or the country’s medical system,” he added.
The Minister blamed the ongoing student protests on the previous regime, while insisting that the Government was committed to resolving the issue amicably without compromising on free education and the quality of the profession.
IUSF students protesting SAITM. Image credit: Roar/G. Gamage
“We’re committed to protecting free education. Establishing PMCs doesn’t mean that state medical students are no longer a priority. We’re taking steps to further improve state medical education by opening new faculties. Land has been allocated in Ratnapura, for example, to convert the hospital there to a teaching hospital. Plans are also underway to increase student intake in state facilities,” he said.
There’s a shortage of 6,000 doctors in this country, said Hashim, adding that there aren’t enough medical graduates to compensate for this.
“Rs. 2 billion is spent annually just for our students to go abroad and get the medical degree. The SLMC accepts 232 foreign universities. That money can be saved at a place like SAITM, as long as it’s up to standard,” he said.
The Government is, according to the Minister, confident the matter can finally be put to rest.
“We have to resolve this without hurting the SAITM graduates, without hurting free education, without compromising on the standards of the SLMC. Both the President and the Prime Minister are committed to this. We believe this can be solved in a pragmatic manner,” he said.
හැමෝම 100% එකඟ වෙන විසඳුමක් කවදාවත් හැදෙන්නේ නෑ
අවම පිරිසක් අපහසුතාවට ලක්වීම තමා කරන්න ඕනි
මොනව වුණත් ආණ්ඩුව මේක විසදීමට තීරණය කිරීම ලොකු දෙයක්
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