The Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education has appointed a 15-member expert committee to formulate a national policy on medical education in Sri Lanka, Ada Derana and NewsFirst reported on Sunday.
The committee will be chaired by Professor Indika Mahesh Karunathilake, Vice Chancellor of the University of Colombo. Ministry Secretary Nalaka Kaluwawa said the panel was appointed in recognition of the strategic importance of strengthening medical education to meet national needs.
The appointment comes against a backdrop of recurring disputes within the medical-education sector — from GMOA strikes over training and posting issues to debates over specialist post recruitment and the long-running controversy over private medical degree pathways. A formal national policy framework would establish standards across state and private medical-education providers, the curriculum, accreditation and clinical training.
Members of the committee and a timeline for delivery of the draft policy were not announced. The Higher Education Ministry has previously said the national AI policy framework is being developed in parallel, with University Grants Commission and US Embassy involvement, as part of a broader push to put policy frameworks around historically under-codified aspects of higher education.
Sources: Ada Derana, NewsFirst.
