New institution to absorb SAITM medical students

• Published date: 04 January 2018
• Publication title: Colombo Gazette

A new not-for-profit 'sunset' institution will absorb all students who were in the medical program of the SAITM campus in Malabe, as well its assets and liabilities, at which point SAITM will be abolished, the Government information department said today.

Sudarshana Gunawardana, Director General of the Government information department said in a statement the 9-member committee appointed by President Maithripala Sirisena was tasked with implementing the steps outlined in the Presidential Communique of 29.10.2017.

Accordingly SAITM must be abolished in a manner legally acceptable to the current shareholders, lending institutions and the new entity interested in taking over all operations and management of SAITM must be looked into and steps must be taken to transfer all SAITM's assets, liabilities, staff and students to a non-state, not-for-profit degree-awarding entity that complies with the Minimum Standards on Medical Education and Training. The legal process to carry this out will require the creation of two separate entities, both in compliance with the Minimum Standards, the Government said.

A new not-for-profit 'sunset' institution that will absorb all students who were in SAITM's medical program, as well its assets and liabilities will be created, at which point SAITM will be abolished. The sunset institution will conclude operations when the last current batches of students graduate. No new students will be admitted to this entity.

A new not-for-profit 'sunrise' institution will start accepting new students from 2019.

On 30.12.2017, the Government signed a Memorandum of Understanding with SAITM and the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT). According to this MoU, with the abolition of SAITM, SLIIT, a leading non-state, not-for-profit degree awarding institute, will establish the new sunset and sunrise institutions, under the guidance of the Government that will take over ownership and management of SAITM's assets, liabilities, staff and students. Subject to the approval of the Attorney General's Department, this MoU will be converted into a legal agreement.

This solution resolves both concerns raised by various groups. They are:

That SAITM does not meet Sri Lanka's high standards for medical education.

That SAITM's profit motive will pervert the goal of creating good doctors.

The Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC), which establishes and maintains national standards for the medical profession, proposed a thorough set of Minimum Standards for...