SAITM parents petition Prez and PM: Transfer students to KDU

A petition, signed by parents of SAITM students, would be submitted to President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil…… Wickremesinghe requesting their children be transferred to the Kotalawala Defence University (KDU), the SAITM Parent Collective told.

“Dr. Harsha de Silva’s Committee recommendations include a process for setting the minimum standards for medical qualifications, restructuring the institution and converting SAITM into a non-profit making entity. This process is time consuming and all acts and other legal procedures have to be finalized, therefore, we are requesting that the current students be enrolled in the KDU and be awarded a government degree,” the Collective said.

They added that the parents are willing to pay tuition fees to the KDU if the students are transferred.

“The standard of the Dr. Neville Fernando Teaching Hospital is currently challenged and our children have no place to carry out their clinical training. Some students have already spent seven years for a five-year medical degree. A plaintiff in the Court case against SAITM has been a student for nine years. The government should take responsibility and provide students with a solution,” they added.

The GMOA claims that the SAITM medical degree is currently not accepted for registration by the General Medical Councils of the UK, Australia and the Maldives.