South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine

rdf:langString South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine

rdf:langString South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine

rdf:langString South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine

rdf:langString Prof. Ananda Samarasekara

rdf:langString Main Campus, 4 acres , Malabe

rdf:langString Dr. Neville Fernando

rdf:langString The South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM) (originally known as the South Asian Institute of Technology and Management) is a privately owned educational institution providing higher education in Sri Lanka. It is recognized as a degree awarding institute under section 25A of the Universities Act No. 16 of 1978. In 2018, the parliament of Sri Lanka passed a special provisions act to abolish SAITM Medical faculty and to transfer the students to General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University. SAITM has become a highly controversial national issue with various segments questioning its standards and legality in terms of its operations as the only private medical college in the country. In July 2016 the government of Sri Lanka suspended the provision for new admissions at the medical faculty of SAITM. In February 2017 the Court of Appeal of Sri Lanka upheld its legality and the validity of the medical degrees awarded by it, instructing the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) register its graduates as medical doctors. SLMC has since appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, while as of yet the SLMC has not recognized the medical degree of SAITM for the purpose of Registration to Practice Medicine and Surgery in Sri Lanka under the Medical Ordinance. The SAITM medical course is one of only 17 programs worldwide that The General Medical Council of the United Kingdom has noted specifically by name as "medical qualifications (they) do not accept" and is the only Sri Lankan Medical course not accepted by the GMC. In September 2018, the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka upheld the decisions of the Court of Appeal ruling which directed the Sri Lanka Medical Council to register MBBS graduates of the SAITM.