The Sri Lanka Freedom Graduates’ Association (SLFGA), an organisation affiliated to the SLFP has asked that South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM) be run as a public-private partnership with the state having the majority share.
The SLFGA which has branches in 102 electorates in the past has spoken for the rights of unemployed graduates.
Their stance lies contradictory to that of SLFP MPs who have stated that SAITM would not be abolished or taken over. General Secretary of the SLFGA, Manjula Perera addressing a media briefing at SLFP headquarters said the private ownership of SAITM should be abolished, “The government can have a 51 percent stake in the institution giving Dr. Neville Fernando 49 percent. At the end of the day, we propose that the state controls it”, he said.
The organization as submitted the following proposals to President Maithripala Sirisena who is currently working on a solution to the problem.
The recommendations include: a committee be appointed to come up with recommendations on the future plan of action for those currently studying at SAITM; to increase the internship period from one to two years to compensate for the lack of patients during clinical training; an opportunity be granted for SAITM students to sit for the Examination For Registration to Practise Medicine in Sri Lanka (ERPM) exam to be registered as a doctor under the SLMC and a committee to be appointed to study the state of medical education and the registration of medical professions in Sri Lanka and recommendation in three months’ time.
While the SLFGA has insisted that medical education not be run by a ‘profit making’ institute, they also stress that this issue should not be used as a reason to launch another campaign of ‘terror’ in the country, similar to that of the late 80s, “We don’t want youth being sacrificed in vain again,” said Perera.
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