A free online token system for obtaining Transport Medical Certificates was introduced on Thursday, the National Institute of Transport Medicine (NITM) said.
The launch ceremony was held at the Institute’s premises in Nugegoda, under the patronage of Deputy Minister of Transport and Highways Dr. Prasanna Gunasena and Deputy Minister of Urban Development Eranga Gunasekara, the Daily Mirror reported.
What changes
The system lets applicants obtain tokens online when scheduling appointments for the medical examination required to obtain a driving licence. Until now, securing a token has meant presenting in person, and queues at the Nugegoda institute have been a long-standing complaint among applicants.
The Institute did not publish figures for expected daily capacity, and the report does not say whether in-person tokens remain available for those without internet access, nor whether the system extends to the Institute’s regional centres.
Context
The move continues a steady migration of transport and revenue services onto digital channels. The electronic Revenue Licence (eRL 2.0) system now issues licences across eight provinces — though it is scheduled to go offline from 25 to 28 September for an upgrade — and Sri Lanka Customs is due to move to paperless declarations from 1 October.
The common pattern across these rollouts has been that the digital channel launches before the fallback is clarified. The eRL suspension, announced this week, leaves motorists in eight provinces without online access for four days.