SAITM: strives to clear misconceptions
by a Staff reporter
A report will be submitted to Parliament to clear all misconceptions
related to the South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM),
Vice Chancellor of SAITM Dr. Ananda Samarasekara said.
There are many misconceptions concerning SAITM and the legality of
the degree it provides, Samarasekara said. He explained that the number
of applications they receive has not decreased, and they are yet to
finalize the applications for the October -November intake.
The first batch for the year, enrolled in March, was recruited from
applicants with foreign (London) Advanced Level examination
qualifications and the second intake from applicants with local Advanced
Level qualifications. The total intake for a year does not exceed 125
students.
Official request
Commenting on the GMOA's statement advising SAITM to stop recruiting
new batches of students, Samarasekara said, unless they receive an
official request to stop recruitment, it will not be considered by the
SAITM management.
The final interviews to select applicants are conducted with the
presence of the Secretary to the Ministry of Higher Education in the
interview panel, and added that they intend to proceed with the
applications.
Meanwhile, some who graduated recently from SAITM said, they are
awaiting a hearing at the Appeal Court for the court case pending on the
internship they requested from the SLMC, which if granted, would mean
that SAITM graduates have been officially accepted by the SLMC.
Commenting on one complaint directed at SAITM; lack of medical
exposure due to not being trained at government universities, he said,
for the recent batches, this would be a problem.
"The number of students per batch increased over time and with that,
the exposure gained by one student may be inadequate, if that has been
identified and raised as a concern by the SAITM management. But, for the
earlier batches, with 30 students altogether, the exposure gained at the
Neville Fernando Hospital was enough," he explained.
Medical exposure
The graduates of SAITM assured they are exposed to the same variety
of sicknesses a state medical student would be exposed to, in a state
hospital, though not in the same numbers; which would be similar to
accepting students from foreign medical degrees, who haven't had the
same exposure a local medical student would, they argued. The issue of
adequate medical exposure was part of the public-private partnership for
the SAITM hospital proposed by the Chairman Neville Fernando a year ago,
and is now back on the discussion table.
However, recently, the Deans of other medical faculties made
interventions, making recommendations for the continuation of SAITM for
which the latter responded declining the allegations that the training
and academic qualification provided at SAITM are not up to standard.
The SLMC was not available for comment. |
