Mass Media and Parliamentary Affairs Deputy Minister Karunaratne Paranawithana has proposed that the SAITM be taken over by the government and administered as a fee-levying institute under the State University System.
This has been proposed as a long-term solution to the long-running saga of the South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM).
Speaking to the Daily News, Paranawithana said there was a major policy decision which needed to be taken on the issue of Sri Lanka’s only private medical institute.
“The government has to wait for the Supreme Court decision on this and it cannot do anything at the moment. In the meantime, we have to look for a solution for this. There is a polarization between the pro-SAITM and against SAITM camps and both ends propose extreme solutions,” he said.
The Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) has filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the ruling of the Court of Appeal which stated that SAITM students could register with the SLMC.
“Personally, I believe that SAITM is a crooked entity which started under the influence of the previous government and its integrity is challenged. But those who oppose the SAITM, don’t want to solve this issue and they want to topple the government using this issue.”
The alternative proposed by Paranawithana also states that it be run as the medical faculty of the Open University.
“Student selection could be carried out through the UGC then. Students who perform exceptionally well at their A/L examinations can be sent on merit basis to other government universities while those who score the minimum qualification but are either not selected due to the district quota system and can pay, can be sent to this. Those who cannot afford to pay can be provided with a student loan to be paid back once they start earning as qualified doctors. Foreign students can also be attracted to study here,” Paranawithana added.
In the short term, Paranawithana proposed that the current students studying at the SAITM be given their degrees and then asked to sit for a common exam prescribed by the SLMC and the clinical training period during their internship be extended to two years from the present one year.