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SAITM Founder Chairman Dr. Neville Fernando is all smiles as he addressed the media yesterday in Colombo flanked by SAITM CEO Dr. Sameera Senaratne - Pic by Ruwan Walpola
By Himal Kotelawala
With the ongoing South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM) saga taking a dramatic turn when the institute’s CEO escaped an attempt on his life on Monday night, the controversial institute yesterday announced its renewed resolve to forge ahead insisting they were ready to face any exam set by a Government authority.
However, questions remain on the purpose of the alleged shooting as well as on matters pertaining to the academic qualifications of SAITM graduates.
Armed with the Court of Appeal’s recent directive to the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) to provide provisional registration to graduates of SAITM, a panel of high-ups of the medical college that included Founder Chairman Dr. Neville Fernando fielded questions from journalists on the latest developments.
In a thinly-veiled dig at the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), Dr. Fernando hinted that an “ultra leftist” group which has joined forces with the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) was behind the ongoing campaign against the institute. He also stressed that SAITM was not founded with profiteering in mind.
“If I wanted to make money, I would’ve started a casino. I wouldn’t have given 30% of the students scholarships valued at about Rs. 550 million so that poor students who couldn’t afford it were able to join SAITM. In fact, in 2013 then President Mahinda Rajapaksa requested me to give 10 scholarships to students who had got 3As, 2As, but couldn’t enter university. I obliged and all these students are now in the final year. Otherwise they would’ve missed out on medicine. I’m happy that my students have done extremely well in the final examination,” said Dr. Fernando.
Dr. Fernando also waxed eloquent on the academic and, raising eyebrows in the audience, other qualifications of his students.
“Their knowledge is very high. They know everything. They’re very well dressed. Not like the ruffians in the university who don’t shave their beards - they smell from hundreds of yards away - our students are well dressed and they can go to any place and see patients,” he said.
Commenting on calls for SAITM students to sit for the Examination for Registration to Practice Medicine (ERPM) in Sri Lanka, or the Act 16 exam as it was formerly known, Visiting Professor of Surgery at SAITM Prof. Neville Perera said that as the ERPM only applies to graduates of foreign universities, SAITM students cannot sit for it.
When asked about the Common Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ) test that local students of all eight medical faculties are required to take, Prof. Perera said the test only serves the purpose of creating a merit list.
“All students are given multiple choice questions in order to work out where they ought to be instated as medical practitioners. It doesn’t test their capacity. Someone who ended up on the lower end of the merit list after taking the MCQ may have passed their clinical exams with flying colours,” he said.
Prof. Perera said that a letter written by SAITM requesting permission for its students to sit for the Common MCQ exam was ignored.
“They didn’t give it to us because they were worried that a SAITM student might top the list beating students of all eight [government] faculties,” he added.
However, the Government is of the position that more private medical colleges must be established in the country. When asked if there ought to be universal standards, SAITM Head of Department of Pediatrics Prof. Deepthi Samarage said that the institute has always expressed its willingness to participate in a quality assurance exam.
“Our students are ready to face an exam of any nature. At present, when the SLMC holds such examination, they delegate it to a government medical college. We have regard for the lecturers and professors at the government medical colleges. We have no reason to oppose an examination conducted by such individuals,” said Prof. Samarage.
She noted that the expert panel appointed to discuss the matter had agreed on the need, but it had been decided by the standing committee of faculty heads that they could not do anything until the SLMC had arrived at its conclusion. This, she said, was the reason SAITM didn’t get the MCQ option.
“In order for SAITM students to sit for the Act 16 exam, the Medical Ordinance would have to be amended,” added Prof. Samarage, echoing her colleague.
Meanwhile, SAITM CEO Dr. Sameera Senaratne, who also spoke to journalists at the press conference, said he had “no idea” he was targeted and that he didn’t have any specific individuals to hold as suspects in Monday evening’s shooting incident.
Dr. Senaratne spoke of anonymous phone calls and letters received by him on 1, 2 and 3 February, threatening him to leave SAITM or face the consequences, after which he had lodged a complaint at the Mulleriyawa police station.
“I’m just one person at SAITM - just one wheel in the organisation. Harming my life won’t hurt the institute. I will be replaced by another,” he said.
“This is a foolish act by whoever may have been behind it,” he said.
“What do we stand to gain by doing this? We’re not going to win any sympathy by doing something like this. I’m not very active on the internet, but I heard there were theories circulating on Facebook about this. These are people waiting for something to happen to us,” he said previously, recalling that a similar spate of violence took place in opposition to the controversial Ragama medical faculty.
