GMOA General Secretary Dr. Chandika Epitakaduwa said the unions had formed an alliance to strengthen their negotiating power to shut down the South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM) which he said did not have the minimum prescribed standards required to set up a medical college.

Dr. Epitakaduwa said the unions were hoping to have discussions with ministers and parliamentarians to garner their support in their fight against SAITM and hope to have representations in parliament on the issue as well. “This private medical college is like a baby with half a brain. It cannot survive and has been on unstable grounds since its inception in 2009,” Dr. Epitakaduwa said. He said six batches had been recruited to the private medical college since it started but none of the batches have had clinical training. “They are heading toward to a disaster,” he said.

FUTA President Ranjith Nirmal Dewasiri said that contrary to Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayake’s views, the college did not fulfil the necessary requirements. He said the biggest universities in the world such as Harvard and Yale were private universities but were regulated by the authorities ensuring the highest quality which he said was not the case with the private medical college in Malabe.

GDSA General Secretary Dr. Ananda Ratnayake said the private medical college had not fulfilled the basic criteria including those stipulated in a gazette notification issued last year.

Source: Daily Mirror - Sri Lanka