Kandy Times

The nearly six-month strike by the medical students of the Peradeniya University was called off 14 days ago, after the resignation of the Medical Faculty's Dean, Prof. Chula Gunasekare.

The on-and-off strike by the Students' Union of the Medical Faculty followed the introduction of 19 degree courses including paramedical courses such as nursing, pharmacy, medical laboratory technology, radio therapy and physical therapy at the Medical Faculty last year, The Kandy Times learns.

With the resignation of the Dean, the Heads of the 18 departments of the Medical Faculty appointed Prof. Channa Ratnatunga as the Acting Dean, the university's Vice Chancellor Harischandra Abeygunawardena said.

According to the Vice Chancellor, the strike had been settled with his university signing a Memorandum of Understanding to lease the Rajarata University's Polgolla premises of the Science Faculty to house the paramedical students temporarily.

Recalling the events that led to the strike, the spokesperson for the Medical Faculty Students' Union (MFSU), Anupa Indika Herath said they received information about the paramedical courses indirectly. "When we discussed the matter with the administration there weren't any direct explanations and as such we went on strike for the first time at the end of February 2006 demanding that such paramedical courses be conducted at a separate Science Faculty and not be part of the Medical Faculty due to lack of facilities," he said.

Then on March 27, the MFSU was sent a letter by the university administration that the students were correct and a separate faculty was needed for paramedical students. But a few months later these students were admitted to the Medical Faculty, he explained, stressing that what they had hoped for was a separate faculty for paramedical courses under a separate Dean.

The paramedical students were admitted on July 17, and that was when the medical students launched the second strike, Anupa said, adding, "discussions were held with the Vice Chancellor and the Dean and also the Chairman of the University Grants Commission and the Minister of Education. We had a good response from the other parties except the Dean."

Once again, the students boycotted lectures on August 4 and the Medical Faculty was closed. The MFSU spokesman said the unresponsive attitude of the Dean compelled the students to call for the resignation of the Dean. "We have nothing against the paramedical course, the degree or the concept. This will help develop the health sector but not at the cost of the medical degree because then all students will suffer due to inadequate facilities," he said.

Dr. Chula Gunasekare, the Dean who resigned, said, the medical students were selfish to go on strike. "I received a number of threats in the past few months but that's normal in this kind of situation. There are other people who don't want these courses being started and they have used the students as pawns," he said.

"The strike is mainly about maintaining the high position of doctors. They do not want a Professor in Nursing competing for the posts of Dean or Vice Chancellor in future," he added.

MFSU President, Dhanushka Wijekoon said that speculation that they were against paramedical students was unfair. "We have nothing against them. We treated them well when they first came here. No one said our strike is unreasonable. Everyone knows how insufficient the facilities are in the Medical Faculty. Many people tried to influence us but the decisions taken were of the medical students themselves," he said, adding that they do not mind sharing the resources as long as their lectures do not clash. But that should be only for a short period as a temporary solution.

"The Dean's involvement in this matter was not satisfactory. He didn't implement the decisions taken at Board meetings. Six weeks passed after the closure of the university but the Dean didn't get involved directly and finally resigned," he explained.

Dr. Ranjan Fernando of the Kandy General Hospital where the medical students have their clinicals, said the strike was justifiable as it was illogical to accommodate more students at the Medical Faculty without providing enough infrastructure and lecturers.

"I heard that the Dean had written a letter to the UGC saying that there were not enough facilities to accept more students to the Medical Faculty. So how can these other students stay in the same faculty," Dr. Fernando asked.

Accepting the concept of putting medical and paramedical students together to get to know each others' work and responsibilities, he however added, "It's good but only with adequate facilities, lecturers and resources."

The staff of the Medical Faculty declined to comment on the issue.

Meanwhile, University Grants Commission Chairman Prof. Gamini Samaranayake said that had the discussions between the students and the administration succeeded, the result would have been more acceptable. "The resignation of the Dean solved the problem, but we should make sure that something like that will not happen again."

A Dean should have freedom to work in his faculty while the students too have a right to express their views, he said, adding, "It's our duty to show the correct way to the students and it's not that difficult to discuss with them either."

"We cancelled plans to move the paramedical courses to Polgolla. The first few months of the course would be dedicated to English and Computer Studies. We can have that in the university premises without disturbing the medical students. In the meantime, we hope to build a separate faculty for paramedical students. We will start it as soon as possible."