Minimum standards pertaining to medical education in the country will be placed before Parliament; the newly appointed President of the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) Prof. Colvin Guneratne told the Sunday Observer.
According to him, discussions between the Ministry of Health and Indigenous Medicine and the SLMC has resulted in a consensus on the minimum standards and is expected to be tabled in parliament soon.
“Although there are a few problems to be sorted out, the Minister of Health has gone through a list along with some members of the SLMC and the minimum standards, I think, will be ready in a week or two,” Prof. Guneratne said.
The issue of minimum standards became a talking point following the Appeals Court judgement ordering the SLMC to temporarily register the students of the medical faculty of the South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM) to do their internships.
Although several attempts were made to gazette the minimum standards, it has not yet materialised due to various reasons. The last attempt to table minimum standards in Parliament by the Minister of Health and Indigenous Medicine, was in July.
In the absence of the gazetted document, the SLMC maintains guidelines and regulations pertaining to the matter. The guidelines state that the minimum entry criteria for medical colleges is two Cs and one S pass in the bio science stream.
Prof. Guneratne is hopeful that the document will be tabled in parliament. “After it is gazetted it will apply to all MBBS or similar degrees awarded by any institution in Sri Lanka,” he said.