AJITH SIRIWARDANA 
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JO defends scholarships given to students to enter SAITM
The Joint Opposition (JO) today defended the awarding of full scholarships to students to study medical degree offered by SAITM during the previous government’s tenure.
Addressing the weekly news briefing Prof. G.L. Peiris said awarding a scholarship to study a degree was different from recognizing the degree as an authenticated profession.
He made these remarks as a response to a question whether it was appropriate to award scholarships to study in a university when the medical degree was not accredited by the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC).
On Tuesday, a Fundamental Rights petition filed by two medical students of SAITM was fixed for support on March 27 by the Supreme Court.
The students including one who was recommended by the former government for a full scholarship to follow the MBBS Degree at SAITM had sought a declaration to null and void a Medical Service Minute issued in 2014 by the Public Service Commission recommending that only graduates of State universities and foreign universities are eligible to join the government service.
“The then Higher Education Minister gave the scholarship on two conditions. The conditions made to improve the quality of the university have not been fulfilled so far by SAITM. The SLMC repeatedly said the SAITM medical degree was not accepted. Even the then Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena said the ministry doesn’t accept the private university’s medical degree,” he said.
He said awarding scholarships was not a measure of hoodwinking anyone as both the government and the scholarship recipients were aware the fact that the SAITM’s medical degree was not accepted by SLMC.
The Professor said a 10-member committee was appointed by SLMC in 2015 to look into the standard of the private university at Malabe and the committee had recommended that the training offered throughout the degree programme was insufficient.
He said Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne who is liable to implement the SLMC recommendations, had not taken any steps with regard to the recommendations so far.
“The Minister is bound to implement the recommendations on the SAITM made by the SLMC. All he has to do is to take the matter in Parliament and then issue an order to implement these recommendations. Parliament can’t move away from the responsibility as this is a matter which has an impact on the entire health sector and the country,” he said. (Lahiru Pothmulla)
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