GMOA to take legal action if SAITM graduates granted provisional registration

Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) told Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne today that it would take legal action if the South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM) students said to have passed the MBBS degree are granted provisional registration.

GMOA General Secretary Dr. Nalinda Herath had in a letter to the minister asked him not to interfere in the work of the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC).

While condemning the efforts made by those who backed SAITM, Dr. Herath said they still believed the Health Minister would not safeguard such enterprises.

“We have reliable information that SAITM has already requested Sri Lanka Medical Council in a letter dated June 10, 2016, to grant provisional registration to some of its students. We need you to refrain from granting approval because it is a violation of the Medical Ordinance,” Dr. Herath said.

He emphasized that provisional registration could only be granted to the students who have passed out from a recognized university or institution under Section 19C of the Medical Ordinance.

Meanwhile, the GMOA said it had written to SLMC President Prof. Carlo Fonseka reiterating that since the SAITM’s medical degree did not meet the prescribed standards, students who pass out from the SAITM could not practice as doctors in Sri Lanka. (Piyumi Fonseka)