JHU wants SAITM abolished

By Maheesha Mudugamuwa

Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) yesterday urged the government to abolish the South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM) and to follow the recommendations of the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC).
JHU Education Secretary Anurudda Pradeep told a media briefing at the party headquarters in Battaramulla that the SLMC was empowered to decide whether or not the degrees of medical proficiency conform to prescribed standards or not.
If the SLMC refused to recognise medical students who passed out of SAITM there was no reason why the government should allow the private medical college to continue, he said.
Pradeep stressed that the SLMC was not a union but an independent institution and therefore if it did not recognise the SAITM an institution fit to produce doctors then the government should withdraw its medical degree awarding status without any further delay.
The JHU Education Secretary said: "The SAITM was not initially established as a private medical college. It was initially named as South Asian Institute of Technology and Management but later they replaced the last name (management) to medicine and started medical degree programmes."