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Established in 1870 as the Colombo Medical School, the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, is the second oldest medical school in South Asia.

Introduction

In the early 1940s the Colombo Medical College was amalgamated with University College Colombo, to create the University of Ceylon. In its coloured history spanning over 135 years it has produced thousands of doctors who have helped contribute to the relatively impressive health statistics in Sri Lanka. Over 1200 students are currently enrolled in the faculty.

Current Status

In addition to the training of undergraduates, the medical school offers a variety of post-graduate courses such as Internal Pharmacists Examinations etc. A wide spectrum of clinical, laboratory and consultative services are offered to many institutions, nationally and internationally by the academic staff. The medical school has been in the forefront of research in the fields of malaria, organ transplantation, adolescence, aging, drug abuse, filariasis, genetics and human reproduction. In 1988 the faculty was instrumental in starting the first renal transplantation program and this program which continues to date has now successfully transplanted over 500 patients and has archived graft and patient survival rates comparable with western standards.
Academic staff of the clinical faculties act as honorary consultants in the National Hospital of Sri Lanka which is located in the vicinity. Each clinical department has a wards allocated to them in the above hospital and the final year program consists of "professorial appointments" where students continue their education in clinical aspects of medicine.
The National Hospital of Sri Lanka, De Zoysa Maternity Hospital and Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children located close by as well as the Castle Street Hospital for Women, Cancer Institute, Maharagama and the Mental Hospital, Angoda are made use of by the students for their clinical training. The Postgraduate Institute of Medicine which is the training institute for postgraduate medical studies also located in the vicinity and is administrated by the University of Colombo. It is currently headed by Prof Rezvi Sheriff.

Anyway, after the new curriculum started in 1994 the quality of the teaching in the faculty and the knowledge of students were greatly deteriorated. Students are forced to do many unnecessary things specially some community medicine(toilet medicine) and behavioral sciences activities in the expense of useful clinical training. So the clinical skills and knowledge of a majority of students is very poor. A useless system based module system is imposed on students. All of these are just exam centered modules and nothing will be retained after a particular module exam. The people who are responsible for this deterioration are those who worked for the changes in curriculum. A former dean called 'Prof'. Lalitha Mendis was a key character of it. And also people in community medicine department such as Rohini Senevirathna.

Prof. Harshalal R. Seneviratne, Professor of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, is currently the Dean of the Faculty.

Notable alumni

• Professor Sir Nicholas Attygalle, FRCS - former Vice Chancellor of University of Ceylon, President of the Senate of Ceylon, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine & Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
• A H Sheriffdeen
• Colvin Goonaratna
• Lalitha Mendis
• Sanath Lamabadusuriya
• Dulitha Fernando
• Padma Mudalige
• Rezvi Sherrif
• Ravindra Fernando
• Nalaka Mendis
• Harsha Seneviratne
• Eric Karunanayake

Current Chairs and Heads of Departments and Special Units

Anatomy

• Chair: Prof. Rohan W. Jayasekera
• Head: Dr. D. J. Anthony

Physiology

• Chair: Vacant
• Head: Dr. S. Wasalathanthri

Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

• Chair : Prof. Sunethra Athukorale

 Head : Prof. Jayantha Welihinda

Pathology

• Chair: Prof. Chandu de Silva
• Head: Prof. Chandu de Silva

Pharmacology & Pharmacy

• Chair and Head: Prof. Laal Jayakody

Microbiology

• Chair: Prof. Jennifer Perera
• Head: Dr. Channa Senanayake

Parasitology

• Chair and Head: Prof. Nadeera Karunaweera

Community Medicine

• Chair: Prof. Dulitha Fernando.
• Head: Dr. Wasantha Gunathunga

Forensic Medicine & Toxicology

• Chair and Head: Prof. Ravindra Fernando

Clinical Medicine

• Chair: Prof. Rezvi Sherrif
• Head: Dr. Ariaranee Gnanathasan

Surgery

• Chair and Head: Prof. Nandadeva Samarasekera

Paediatrics

• Chair and Head: Prof. Sanath P. Lamabadusuriya

Obstetrics and Gynaecology

• Chair and Head: Prof. Harsha R. Seneviratne

Psychological Medicine

• Chair: Prof. Nalaka Mendis
• Head: Dr. Varuni de Silva

Malaria Research Unit

• Director: Prof. Nadeera Karunaweera

Human Genetics Unit

• Director: Prof. Rohan W. Jayasekera

Medical Education and Research Centre

• Director: Dr. Indika Karunaratne

Chairs of the five streams

Introductory Basic Sciences Stream

            Chairperson: Dr. Mangala Gunathilake, Department of Physiology 

Applied Sciences Stream

            Chairperson: Dr. Anuja Abeydeera, Department of Surgery

Community Stream

            Chairperson: Dr. Nalika Gunawardena, Department of Community Medicine 

Behavioural Sciences Stream

            Chairperson: Dr. Priyadarshani Galappatthy, Department of Pharmacology 

Clinical Sciences Stream

            Chairperson: Prof. Mandika Wijeratne, Department of Surgery

References

• A history of medicine in Sri Lanka - from the earliest time to 1948. Uragoda C G. 1987. Sri Lanka Medical Association. Colombo

http://www.cmb.ac.lk/academic/medicine/index.htm

See also

• University of Colombo

External links

• The Colombo Medical faculty Website
• A brief profile of the Faculty
• University of Colombo website
• The Virtual Learning Centre
• gazettes-online.co.uk

• University departments and faculties in Sri Lanka
• Medical education in Sri Lanka
• Buildings and structures in Colombo