SAITM may be agreeable to state faculty deans’ recommendations

From left: PMC Parent’s Society Treasurer W.P Samarakoon, PMC Parent’s Society Member Prof Neville Perera, PMC Parent’s Society President P.M.B.K Thennakoon, PMC Parent’s Society Secretary Anura Dhanaratna – Pic by Shehan Gunasekara

By Himal Kotelawala

The South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM) is likely to actively consider a proposal made by the eight state medical faculties to the Ministry of Higher Education to request the institute to suspend student admissions for six months until the completion of its periodic review.

A senior professor at the controversial private medical college said yesterday that while the decision to suspend fresh intakes would ultimately be up to the SAITM administration, it is currently being considered, though subject to discussion, along with another proposal by the eight deans to have SAITM graduates undergo four months of clinical training in a state hospital in addition to passing a licensing examination.

Speaking to the media yesterday at a press conference organised by the Sri Lanka Private Medical College Parents’ Association, Visiting Professor of Surgery Dr. Neville Perera made these comments but hastened to add that the matter of suspending admissions is a question that must be asked from the institute and its lawyers.

The professor, who is also a member of the Parents’ Association, also theorised that the state deans had come to this apparent about-turn in their stance in the face of growing student body agitation that he said has made life difficult for the faculty administrators.

“Students of the state faculties are protesting and boycotting lectures. This has made things difficult for the academic staff. So the deans got together and issued a statement. That statement contains a set of proposals; not a command to amend a law,” said Prof. Perera.

“They have come to the realisation that their students are becoming victims of a political campaign,” he added.

Refuting numerous media reports to the contrary, Prof. Perera claimed that the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC)-appointed committee chaired by Prof. Rizvi Sheriff had recommended SAITM graduates for SLMC approval under five conditions, some of which he said included the recommendations made by the deans. 

When this document was presented to the SLMC, its president refused to accept it citing various shortcomings, said Prof. Perera, which culminated in SAITM graduates not being given provisional registration. 

“If those five recommendations had been implemented, none of this would’ve happened,” he said, referring to the drama that has been unfolding since. 

“All we wanted was four months of clinical training. In the Sheriff report it was clearly stated that the students’ theory knowledge was excellent, and that there was no need to test that again; but the issue was with clinical training, so let them sit for a clinical examination. That exam would’ve been a cakewalk for our students. Mr. Sheriff himself said that our students would pass this test easily and asked us to agree,” claimed Prof. Perera. SAITM staff and students subsequently agreed to these conditions, which Prof. Perera said was later ignored by the SLMC, only to come back full circle in the form of the latest recommendations made by the deans earlier this week.

Prof. Perera said that SAITM is on principle agreeable to discuss the new recommendations, in order to arrive at a fair and reasonable framework for their implementation.

“A framework must be arrived at on how to spend those four months [of clinical training], in a fair manner. If it’s going to be an SLMC exam, that’ll be akin to getting a fox to guard the henhouse. We’ll have no faith in that. Let’s discuss the framework,” he said.

Speaking to Daily FT, Prof. Perera that in the wake of the Sheriff report, SAITM had agreed to have its graduates sit for a PACES exam for clinical trials, but this never materialised due to the SLMC standing in its way.

When asked if SAITM graduates would be willing to sit for the hotly debated Act 16 exam in the event the Medical Ordinance to accommodate them, he said that SAITM is open to the possibility of combining it with its own final exam.

“We are quite happy to amalgamate our exam with the Act 16 exam. Why should they have local people, when the same examiners are coming? Why should they have two exams? Our final exam can be conducted by them. We’re inviting the medical council or a university to conduct our exam. We’re quite willing,” Prof. Perera told Daily FT.

That said, however, SAITM has been notoriously adverse to an SLMC exam. When asked about the nature of this proposed exam, Prof. Perera said: “It should be conducted under the supervision of a university, maybe with the blessings of the SLMC. In any case, the SLMC conducts exams through the universities because the SLMC itself can’t conduct any exams. That we’re more than willing [to do]. If they allow the examiners to be given to us, we’re willing to accept that - any university. At the moment, the deans are preventing lecturers and professors from coming to our exams. They have actively told them not to participate.”

Asked if SAITM was hopeful for the futures of its students now that the state faculty heads have finally appeared to come around, Prof. Perera said: “We’re very hopeful that we can have a discussion with the deans - we’re all friends and contemporaries - and come to a settlement so that future students can have some sort of licensing exam.”