Lanka's medical education watchdog gets nod from international body

The local recognition process of the watchdog of medical education in Sri Lanka has secured its own recognition, after stringent evaluation and review, from a prestigious Geneva-based international body this month.

The World Federation for Medical Education (WFME) has granted accreditation on March 7 to the 2019-established Accreditation Unit (AU) of the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC).

The Certificate of Recognition Status signed by WFME President Prof. Ricardo Leon-Borquez issued to the AU states that it has met the criteria for the WFME Recognition of Accreditation Programme and has been awarded Recognition Status until March 31, 2033, pending annual monitoring of continued compliance.

This confirms that the WFME is

This accreditation is significant both locally and internationally,” reiterates Dr. Abeykoon, explaining that it is recognition of the standards and qualifications of Sri Lanka’s medical education. The WFME accreditation is “valuable” because it is an “external evaluation of what we do”

satisfied with the accreditation process, post-accreditation monitoring and decision-making process of the SLMC as it relates to basic medical education schools or programmes. WFME Recognition Status of an agency confers the understanding that the ‘quality’ of medical education in its accredited schools is to ‘an appropriate and rigorous standard’, it further states.

The WFME had been established in 1972 by the World Medical Association (WMA) and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

During a seven-day visit (November 28 to December 5, 2022), part of an arduous process by top officials of the WFME, it had been strict business and no play in the form of wining, dining or fellowship. The visit had included sitting in on an AU review session of a medical faculty.

“It was a really tough process,” says AU’s head, Dr. Palitha Abeykoon, smilingly conceding that the fivemember AU was on tenterhooks until

the last minute.

He explained that the SLMC is the regulator of medical education and practice in Sri Lanka and the AU though under the SLMC, works independently.

It is also located not within the SLMC office off Norris Canal Road, Colombo 10, but a stone’s throw away in a separate, compact building off Hedges Court Road.

This is where the Sunday Times met Dr. Abeykoon and AU committee member Prof. Jayantha Jayawardana this Monday. The other committee members are Prof. Surangi Yasawardene, Prof. Gominda Ponnamperuma and Dr. Pandula Siribaddana. They are assisted by a team led by SLMC Assistant Registrar Priyanthi Daluwatta and Management Assistant Nadeeka Wijedasa.

The culmination of the stringent process through which recognition has been earned by the SLMC’s AU had been the visit by a four-member WFME team.

“This accreditation is significant both locally and internationally,” reiterates Dr. Abeykoon, explaining that it is recognition of the standards and qualifications of Sri Lanka’s medical education. The WFME accreditation is “valuable” because it is an “external evaluation of what we do”.

Prof. Jayawardana detailed the tough process of Sri Lanka seeking such recognition, starting over a year ago in February last year (2022).

“There was detailed screening by the WFME of how the SLMC grants recognition to medical schools,” he said.

Both Dr. Abeykoon and Prof. Jayawardana said that the self-regulated AU even though functioning under the umbrella of the SLMC, is an independent unit and the WFME was categorical that it was sensitive to issues of political interference in the workings of the AU.

Currently, the AU recognises the MBBS programmes of medical schools with plans to gradually cover

the dental programme (BDS) and also post-graduate study courses under the Post-Graduate Institute of Medicine (PGIM).

The AU has so far granted accreditation for a five-year period to the MBBS programmes of the Faculty of Medical Sciences, Sri Jayewardenepura University and the Faculties of Medicine of the Colombo, Kelaniya, Ruhuna, Peradeniya and Rajarata Universities.

The reviews for accreditation of the Faculties of Medicine of the Eastern University, the Kotelawala Defence University (KDU) and the Jaffna University are pending.

It would also be reviewing the MBBS programmes of the more recently set up Medical Faculties of Sabaragamuwa, Wayamba and Katubedda and also Uva-Wellassa which is in the pipeline.

“We are guiding them on how to be on par with the minimum standards which encompass aspects such as the structure of the course; what the teacher-student ratio is, how many clinical hours of training the students would undergo and more,” Prof. Jayawardana added.

Meanwhile, across the world, about 60 countries (around 40 Medical Councils – MCs) have secured WFME recognition. So far, among the 11 member-states in the South-East Asian Region (SEAR) of WHO, WFME recognition has been granted to Thailand, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, the third in the region to do so. This is as Bangladesh and India are under review, while Bhutan and the Maldives have no medical schools. The other SEAR states are the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Myanmar, Nepal and TimorLeste. Such accreditation comes at a cost of around Rs. 25 million.

We are guiding them on how to be on par with the minimum standards which encompass aspects such as the structure of the course; what the teacher-student ratio is, how many clinical hours of training the students would undergo and more