The Minister of Health is not obliged to obey the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) all the time, says Minister S.B. Dissanayake.

He also stressed that approval should be given for the students of the Malabe private medical university to become doctors. 

The Minister of Social Empowerment and Welfare said that the private medical college in Malabe, also knon as SAITM, is better that the medical faculties of Rajarata, Batticaloa and Jaffna universities in every way.

He said that facilities-wise only the universities of Colombo, Peradeniya, Kelaniya and Jayawardenapura are equal or better than the private medical college in Malabe. 

He stated that the other state universities in the country have major lecturer issues. 

Dissanayake, who was the former Higher Education Minister, said that Batticaloa does not have a single Professor while one retired professor was found for the Rajarata University with the greatest difficulty.

However, a large number of professors from Colombo, Jayawardenapura and Kelaniya universities as well as several retired professors currently teach at the medical college in Malabe, he said.

The minister stated that the Medical Council is hampering SAITM students from getting practical training at government hospitals. However, he said that they are doing the same thing to nursing degree students as well.

“That is the mentality of the medical council. Tribal symptoms.”  

Dissanayake also charged the former President of following an ‘extremist’ ideology with his brothers after the 2010 election win, though he ruled the country as a ‘true’ leader from 2005.

“Due to his foreign policy, Sri Lanka could have ended up as another Iraq or Libya,” he told reporters, during a press conference held in Battaramulla this afternoon (09).