300 foreign medical students blocked from work cry foul

Delays in the exam that allows foreign medical graduates to practise in Sri Lanka, and the granting of subsequent internship appointments, have left around 300 such students without a job for almost a year to date.

The Examinat i o n for Registration to Practise Medicine (ERPM) is a requirement for medical students from foreign universities, to obtain provisional registration as interns and is held by the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC).

Some 300 students, mainly graduates from universities in Russia, China and Bangladesh, were caught in the crossfire of the state medical student strikes over the granting of medical degrees by the privately- owned South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine in 2017, resulting in their ERPM exam being delayed by about six months. By the time the exams were finally held in December, the students had missed the internship intake, which is held biannually in June and November.

In 2018, ERPM exams were held on time but the internship intake was scrapped. This was because the state medical batch of graduates had not been able to complete their exams and hence could not apply for provisional registration.

“It is unfair that our internship prospects should be affected because of the state university student strikes,” said one student, who wished to remain anonymous in fear of being singled out and attacked by medical and student unions.

The graduates made repeated visits to the ministry, SLMC and even the Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) to discuss the issue and returned with assurances that the issue would soon be solved.

Another student said their merit list, which should have been prepared two weeks after the ERPM results were out, was only finalised this month. The merit list deems the order by which the students are placed in hospitals for their internships, and is prepared by the SLMC.

These delays, and the fact that no state medical students obtained internships last year, has caused a shortage of around 1,200 House Officers, also known as ward doctors, in base hospitals outside the main cities.

SLMC Vice President Prof. Nilanthi De Silva said the delay in drawing up the merit list was due to a problem with some of the foreign graduates’ applications, particularly from a university in Bangladesh.

She said this had been resolved soon and the list was finalised and was now in the hands of the Health Ministry, which is responsible for procuring internships.

The students, however, alleged that the delay was created with the GMOA’s backing after the applications were submitted. “If there was a problem with the documents, why did they allow the students to sit for the ERPM?” one student asked. “They waited till the last moment and then brought the issue up.”

The students further accused the GMOA of deliberately stepping in to ensure the foreign graduates could not get their internships until the state medical students, who were delayed as a result of their own strikes, finished with their exams and could apply for internships.

Prof. de Silva refuted these allegations, saying the SLMC had a strict standard procedure and the GMOA could not interfere even if it wished to do so.

GMOA Secretary Dr. Haritha Aluthge also denied these allegations, saying the association was a union that represented the interests of everyone in the pro- fession. He said there were around 500 foreign graduates who were members of the GMOA and hence they had no reason to bar other foreign students from internships.

The secretary, however, confirmed the shortage of House Officers in base hospitals and said the foreign graduates could help fill a portion of it.

“It would be a violation of the state medical students’ rights if the foreign graduates were given appointments before them as the top part of the merit list is reserved for the state students,” Dr. Aluthge explained.

The GMOA has requested the Health Ministry to convene a meeting with all the stakeholders to discuss the issue and reach consensus.

“If the Health Ministry goes ahead and gives appointments to the students without a consensus the GMOA will not be responsible for strikes carried out by the state medical students,” he warned.

Several attempts to reach the Ministry of Health for a comment were unsuccessful.