Founder of South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM) Dr. Neville Fernando has written to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa last week, requesting an appointment to discuss the possibility of establishing a new private medical college.
SAITM, initiated during the Mahinda Rajapaksa Government in 2008, fulfilling the long due need for a private medical college was defunct in 2017, due to massive pressure from trade unions and a fraction of state university students.
“SAITM has already produced 85 doctors who are now practicing well. Other than that, we have produced hundreds of graduates in Business Management and Information Technology,” Dr Fernando said.
In his latest proposal, Dr Fernando suggests establishing a new company as a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) where the government will also be a principal stakeholder of the medical college.
“This will be formed under a new name, not SAITM. I am hoping to register a new company with the support of the government and to start the medical college under that company” he said.