This was stated at a media briefing yesterday presided by Husni Hussain, Registrar of SAITM.

Dr. Deepthi Samarage, Professor of Pediatrics, Dr. Neville Perera, Professor of Pediatrics, Dr. Narendra Pinto, orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Sameera Senaratne, CEO and Dr. Tharindu Ruwan Pathiranage from the first batch of MBBS graduates from SAITM spoke at the media briefing.

The press conference was followed by a tour of the state of the art facilities at the Dr. Neville Fernando Teaching Hospital.

A press release issued on the occasion says,

SAITM, established in 2008, currently has five faculties - Medicine, Engineering, Management & Finance, ICT & Media and Allied Health & Behavioral Sciences.

One of the largest multi-faculty higher education institutes in the country, SAITM offers degree programmes approved by the UGC and the Ministry of Higher Education.

Currently over 1,000 students are enrolled in all its faculties.

Additionally, more than 400 students have graduated from SAITM in Engineering and other fields, who are now well-employed in Sri Lanka and overseas.

The MBBS degree programme offered by SAITM is on par with or even better than similar programmes offered by state medical faculties.

SAITM’s academic panel is on par with or above State medical faculties, as per Sri Lanka University Statistics 2015 published by the UGC.

SAITM follows the subject benchmark statement in medicine of the UGC.

The facilities of SAITM are of the highest standards and meet the stipulated criteria from the UGC.

The clinical training provided at Neville Fernando Teaching Hospital and other private hospitals along with Kaduwela MoH and Avissawella Base Hospital for Community Medicine and Forensic Medicine respectively, are adequate and students graduating from SAITM are most capable of discharging their duties as intern medical officers.

The SLMC is obliged by law to register students with a degree in Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery from a degree-awarding institute, as per section 29(1)(b)(i) of the Medical Ordinance as amended in 1988, in the same manner as a student with a degree from a State medical faculty.

However, the SLMC has refused to grant provisional registration to SAITM graduates.

Consequently, the refusal of the SLMC to grant provisional registration to SAITM MBBS graduates has been challenged in the Appeal Court, vide Case No: CA/WRIT/187/2016.

All SAITM students who have successfully completed their MBBS Programme, read for their degrees under the guidance of some of the best professors and lecturers in the country for the past six years.

All SAITM MBBS graduates are knowledgeable, capable and highly committed to assume their rightful place as fully-fledged doctors to serve Sri Lanka.

SAITM says it has the fullest confidence that the Government of Sri Lanka, the Parliament and the legal system will ensure that the due process of law will prevail, which will enable SAITM MBBS graduates to contribute their best to benefit our health system and people of this country.