Govt. told to take stance on SAITM

• Opposition members criticise incumbent and previous administrations for letting issue drag on 

Opposition members yesterday called on the Government to clarify its position on the controversial South Asian Institute of Medicine and Technology (SAITM), insisting that the State was duty-bound to resolve the crisis. 

JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake also called on former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, incumbent President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to clarify their position on the matter.

Both the Rajapaksa administration which fathered SAITM and the current Wickremesinghe-Sirisena coalition that is protecting the institute should come forward and make their positions clear, said Dissanayake.

Demonstrators protest against the South Asian Institute of Medicine and Technology –  Pic by Shehan Gunasekara

“I have observed that the former President has made various statements on the matter at different fora. We hope he presents his official position to Parliament and elaborates on the factors he considered when establishing the institute then as well his reasons for opposing it now,” he said.

Criticising President Sirisena’s move to appoint a committee to look into the issue as a cop-out, Dissanayake called for a Member of Parliament representing the President to announce to the House his views on the matter. The JVP leader also said that Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, whom he accused of remaining stoically silent on matters of importance until things had escalated, should make a statement.

Dissanayake was highly critical of former Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayake, accusing him of having acted as a prosecutor of university students. He also charged that the then Higher Education Ministry Secretary took it upon himself to approve SAITM as a medical degree-awarding institute, something that only the University Grants Commission is empowered to do.

Dissanayake claimed that foreign universities such as Manipal University, when invited to invest in Sri Lanka, said they first needed to see the progress of the Malabe medical faculty.

He also said that while the Government was committed to establishing new state medical faculties, universities both private and state-run will be opened with the objective of attracting foreign students seeking higher education here.

“The law is clear. You can’t cheat the law. Please don’t condemn these students’ right to register as medical practitioners,” Dissanayake said, concluding his speech.

Incumbent Minister of Higher Education Lakshman Kiriella said that opposition to SAITM is politically motivated. 

“SAITM was started during the tenure of the previous government. No one opposed it then - not at the scale it is being now, with street protests that have halted lectures at universities,” he said.

When Kiriella asked if the JVP was opposed to SAITM graduates sitting for the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) licensing exam, MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake said his party was agreeable to coming to an understanding that would be fair to existing SAITM students in a framework that will eventually see the abolition of the institute.

JVP MP Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa, joining the debate, accused the top management of SAITM of being fraudulent and that they went to the extent of lying to the courts.

“SAITM was started and is maintained by cheating the Board of Investment, the Health Ministry and the UGC,” he charged.

“SAITM has increased its profits by Rs. 1 billion. It’s probably the only company after Perpetual Treasuries to have made such a huge profit margin. Sharing this massive profit with some ministers or other organisations is nothing for them,” said Dr. Jayatissa.

Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka, who also contributed to the debate in his capacity as a member of the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), said that further admittance of students to SAITM should be halted until the Government had worked out a solution to the issue. (HK)