U’grads to protest against PMC

May 30, 2012, 10:56 pm

by Dasun Edirisinghe, the island

Undergraduates are planning to launch a fresh protest against the Malabe Private Medical College (PMC) together with the Medical Faculty Students’ Action Committee (MFSAC) and the Inter University Students Federation (IUSF).

Addressing a press conference at CSR hall in Maradana, Convener of the MFSAC Nilan Fernando said that they decided to protest collectively as the PMC is a major threat to medical education in Sri Lanka.

"The Mahinda Rajapaksa government allowed the PMC as a pilot project for privatisation of the free education system in the country," he said.

Fernando said that the government was yet to implement the recommendations of the committee which was appointed by the Health Ministry to look into the matters related to the Malabe PMC.

The committee report indicated that the SLMC and Health Ministry were misled by the PMC and they also found that some students who did not have the relevant qualifications at the GCE (A/L) examination were studying medicine at the PMC, he said.

The student unionist claimed that most of lecturers of the PMC were those who had graduated from foreign universities, but they did not pass the Act 16 examination which foreign medical graduates have to pass if they are to practice in Sri Lanka.

"One of them failed the Act 16 examination eight times," Fernando said adding that another one sat for it seven times.

He said they would stop the PMC at any cost.

IUSF Convener Sanjeewa Bandara said that the student movement stopped the North Colombo Private Medical College in the 80s and the then government had to attach it to the Kelaniya University due to student protests.

"Our late students fought against it for seven years," he said adding they had to sacrifice their lives too to protect the free education at that time.

Bandara said that they would not stop their fight against the PMC until it is abolished.