Saturday, November 12, 2011

Little chance of Lanka becoming knowledge hub: FUTA

Local universities are facing a brain drain and will not be able to achieve the government’s goal of turning Sri Lanka into a South Asian knowledge hub as the academic staff has not received their wage increments promised by the government, the Federation of University Teachers Association (FUTA) said today.

FUTA spokesman Mahin Mendis said only 25 per cent of the academic staff in local universities were doctoral degree holders and that if the universities were to retain the PhD holders the government should ensure that they received the increments owed to them.

“You can’t call a university a university if it is not run by PhD holders. If we are to have the highest qualified academics in our local universities they should be paid accordingly,” Dr. Mendis said.

The 2008 Prof. Malik Ranasinghe-Jeffrey Committee set up to inquire into salary anomalies of university academic staff had recommended that salaries of senior professors be increased to Rs.168,750.

Dr. Mendis said this recommendation has not been implemented and that instead the academics have only received a 25 per cent conditional allowance for research and development and an increase in academic allowances.

“We have only received an interim solution which is no solution at all. It is not acceptable, but should be urgently fulfilled if not there will be a crisis in 2012” he said.

Dr. Mendis said only one per cent of the country’s national income was allocated for higher education in Sri Lanka but it should be increased to six per cent.

He said Sri Lanka was one of the South Asian countries that invested the least in higher education. “Even if investments in higher education are increased to six per cent we will still be the lowest investor in education as other countries in the region allocate much more,” Dr. Mendis said. (Olindhi Jayasundere)

Five undergrads remanded over Thursday’s clash



By Jayantha de Silva

Five undergraduates of the Kelaniya University were produced before Colombo Additional Magistrate Maheen Wijeweera yesterday, over Thursday’s clash between two factions of a Science Faculty. They were remanded till November 17.

The Magistrate allowed an application to allow the suspects to sit for their examination to be held on (14) Monday and ordered any requests in this regard to be directed to the Commissioner of Prisons.

The suspects in this case are Tivanka Somachandra, Dilruk Prasanna, Manusha Palinda, Chaturanga Herath and Chintaka Ruvinda.

The Magistrate took into consideration the objections of Police in granting bail to the five suspects on the basis that the clashes were politically motivated.

The Magistrate on being informed by the police that in the event the suspects were enlarged on bail the possibility of a future clash could not be discounted, disallowed the bail applications despite the pleadings of their counsels "that the innocent students be granted bail on any condition ".

The counsel in response to the application filed by the police further requested that the campus be made out of bound to the suspects.

The police did not object to the application which was allowed.

Two complaints had been lodged with the police and the clash resulted in six students being treated for wounds at the Colombo North Hospital.

The counsel for the student still under treatment submitted he is presently warded at the Ragama Hospital with 32 stitches. His arm and abdomen had been cut by a tree cutting electric saw.

Two factions had pelted stones at each other resulting in some receiving head injuries.

At this point police informed that peace was not prevailing on the campus.

The counsel said that the root of the clash were a row between a professor and a student leader.

PS 32873 Jayantha prosecuted.

IP Priyantha assisted by SI Dissanayake conducted investigations.

Attorney-at-Law Mervin Silva, Anton Senanayake, Bertram Mendis and Mitila Yapa appeared for the complainant faction.

Attorneys-at-Law Thusitha Dammika and Nilan Amarakoon appeared for the counter complainant faction.

 

GMOA alleges Health Ministry does not have data bank



By Lal Gunesekera

The Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) alleges that the Ministry of Health does not have a data bank, though a request was made by the GMOA way back in 2007.

Assistant Secretary of the GMOA Dr. Upul Gunasekera told The Island that they had requested computerisation of data. For that purpose, 16 doctors specialising in bio-informatics related to Medical services had been released to the ministry for a short period and they were to return to their previous stations after completing that assignment.

He said that those doctors had already produced reports with their proposals, but the Ministry had not acted upon their recommendations as yet. The ministry did not have data entry personnel, and these doctors were released to develop a data bank. The GMOA was ‘not happy’ with the IT Department of the Health Ministry, which did not even possess an official e-mail address.

There was a shortage of doctors, but he could not disclose the exact number due to the lack of a data bank. However, according to various sources there were 16,000 doctors and 1,300 consultants in the country. Although he could not exactly say how many government hospitals there were in the country, 47 hospitals were closed down as the were without the necessary doctors and had not been provided with proper facilities, Dr. Gunasekera said.

He said that hospitals could not achieve their full potential as there was a dearth of personnel not only of doctors but also of nurses, pharmacists etc. Therefore a cadre revision was a pressing need, Dr. Gunasekera said.

The GMOA Assistant Secretary also claimed the 60 doctors had not applied for posts and were seeking foreign employment.