The Presidential Commission appointed to look into the South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM) issue has proposed the private medical college is abolished and a not-for-profit entity is set up under the Health Ministry in its stead.

In a statement issued by the Government Information Department the Presidential Commission further recommended that Dr. Neville Fernando and his family rescind all ownership of the Neville Fernando Teaching Hospital.

At an earlier date the government made a series of proposals that included extended training for SAITM medical graduates at government hospitals in order to resolve the problems but local university students rejected the proposals and continued to call for SAITM to be abolished.

The local university student, supported by trade unions and the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) have been calling for the private medical college SAITM to be abolished on the grounds that it was a ‘hora upadee kade’ that undermined the efforts put in by local students.