Sunday, August 21, 2011

Malabe Medical College given degree status

The Nation, 21/08/2011,
By S. Selvakumar
The University Grants Commission (UGC) will grant degree awarding status to the Malabe Private Medical College established two years ago. When this status is granted it will be the first private university in Sri Lanka to award the MBBS degree.
When contacted by The Nation Secretary to the Ministry of Higher Education Dr. Sunil Jayantha Navaratne said that when the private medical college affiliated to a Russian University sought permission from the UGC to award the MBBS degree it sent a team of officials to Malabe to inspect all aspects there and following a positive report from the officials it was agreed to grant the private medical institution’s request.
Asked whether the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) would accept the MBBS of a private institution Dr. Navaratne said the SLMC is a professional body and it is up to them to recognize the degree or not.
However since the UGC has now agreed to grant the MBBS degree awarding status to the Malabe Private Medical College it is likely that the SLMC would recognize the degree and permit the undergraduates to undergo clinical training in government hospitals. At present these medical graduates do their clinical training in private hospitals.
There are about 200 students studying in this private medical institution affiliated to the Russian university and it was estimated that each student is charged around Rs 6 million for the course.

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