The Government Medical Officers' Association (GMOA) has received reliable information on an attempt now being made to recruit a group of medical students who failed the ERPM examination (Act 16 Exam) as MBBS doctors using COVID-19 situation and misleading the Government, GMOA Secretary Dr. Haritha Aluthge told the Daily News yesterday.
According to Dr. Aluthge, the information has been received from reliable sources including the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC). Accordingly the GMOA will make a formal request today from the Health Services Director General and the Health Ministry Secretary under the Right to Information Act in connection with obtaining information on this list of students, their qualifications, all the top health officials connected to the issue, etc. The GMOA will inform them to stop all such efforts with immediate effect.
Dr. Aluthge pointed out that if there is a shortage of doctors in Sri Lanka at the moment, there is a batch of 300 doctors who passed all required examinations and are now waiting for intern appointments. Passing ERPM is mandatory for all Sri Lankan medical students with foreign medical degrees. Giving legal MBBS appointments to quack doctors endangers the lives of innocent poor patients, the GMOA said.
Meanwhile the Media Spokesman for the Sate Medical Students' Parents' Union Wasantha Alwis said that a large number of similar appointments had been made during the previous regime with the blessings of then Health Minister and his henchmen who held various key positions in crucial state bodies. A total of nearly 600 such appointments were made to recruit medical students who only had Ordinary Level qualifications or Arts Stream qualifications in the Advanced Level Examination, he said.