The Third year
undergraduates of the Peradeniya Allied Health Sciences Faculty (AHSF)
following nursing, radiography and physiotherapy courses are in a dilemma
as their training has been suspended for the past two months. Only the
first year batches of these three courses have commenced while the second
and third year batches have been left out in the cold, for no fault of
their s.
Sources close to the Allied Health Sciences Faculty said on Monday that
the students of the AHSF did not have the support of the hospital staff.
Especially nursing undergraduates could have had a stronger representation
had the nursing staff of the two teaching hospitals stood up for them to
fight for their rights. Only the third year batch was receiving its
training in the Medical Laboratory Technology, they said.
UNP MP for Kurunegala, Dayasiri Jayasekara who brought up the question
regarding the training of students of the Faculty of Allied Health
Sciences in Parliament last week said, the government should have decided
before commencing the courses of the Faculty as to where the training
should be given. The relevant ministries – Ministries of Higher Education
and Health had not coordinated their plans regarding the Faculty and its
courses. In the end the poor students were the ones who suffered, he said.
The Faculty of Allied Health Sciences were thrown into this quandary
when a group of doctors at Peradeniya and Kandy Teaching hospitals
protested against the undergrads being trained in their institutions. They
fear that these students who undergo a four year course would pose a
threat to them, President of the Joint Council of Professions
Supplementary to Medicine said. He said, they were willing to compromise
if the doctors too were willing to make the necessary concessions with
regard to the training.
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