𝐊𝐃𝐔 හරහා වෛද්‍ය උපාධිය මුදල් ගෙවීමේ පදනම මත පිරිනැමීම පිළිබදව විශේෂඥ වෛද්‍යවරුන්ගේ සංගමයේ අදහස.

26th April 2024
Mr. E M S B Ekanayake,
Secretary to the HE the President,
Presidential secretariat,
Colombo 1.

Dear sir,

𝐑𝐞: 𝐄𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬.

It has been brought to our notice that different entry criteria other than the Z score have been proposed to admit students to fee levying medical undergraduate programs of the state-owned medical school of Kothalawala Defense University. So far, all state sector medical faculties admitted students purely based on the Advance Level Examinations Z score, though the UGC permitted only small allocation of additional marks for students who excelled in extracurricular activities (0.5% of admissions within the 0.2 of the cut of Z score for students who have excelled in extracurricular activities - 6.2 of the UGC hand book)

𝐈𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐛𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀/𝐋 𝐙 𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐫 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲, 𝐩𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐬 𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐬. If other factors like extracurricular achievements are considered more than the current UGC criteria, it can certainly lead to unfair and unequal opportunities to some who are economically and socially privileged, removing the current “level playing field” on admissions to state medical schools especially for a fee levying program.

This is because

1. Some of the extracurricular activities like certain sports need expensive equipment, expensive coaches and extra funds to participate in competitions especially ones held internationally.
2. Some of students simply lack the access to certain extracurricular activities due to poor facilities in their schools or lack of extra time as they spend much time to travel to school from distantly placed homes.
3. Biased assessments and favoritism can play a role during admissions as there are no proper standards or methodology to allocate marks to such extracurricular activities.

It is also timely to give a serious consideration to the current minimum entry criteria to medical undergraduate courses stipulated in the gazette on minimum standards of medical education followed by the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC).
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐀/𝐋 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝟐𝐂𝐬 & 𝟏𝐒 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐮𝐦 𝐀/𝐋 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐀/𝐋 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐬.
At present in Sri Lanka we observe that a large number of students have obtained extremely good A/L results and the number of students who obtain A grades in all three subjects (3As) has also increased considerably in recent years. All these facts justify increasing the minimum A/L criteria to enter into medical degree programs in Sri Lanka to be on par with the international standards.
Currently, the state sector grade medical officer vacancies are filled to great extent by the increased number of medical graduates passing out from state medical schools and foreign medical graduates who have being successful at the ERPM examination. At present state medical schools collectively admit more than 2000 students as medical undergraduates yearly and several hundred foreign medical graduates also join the medical workforce annually.