Ten things to consider when choosing a Foreign Medical degree Program
Eight Sri Lankan Universities have medical faculties: Colombo, Sri Jayawardanepura, Jaffna, Galle, Peradeniya, Kelaniya, Batticaloa and Rajarata. The output of all medical schools is around 1200 and they receive the degree MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery) . The training period is around five years plus a residency period (Internship) of one year for full registration as a doctor in Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC).
However, since the intake into government free medical faculties are very limited, a large number of students go abroad to get a Medical Degree from a foreign university. Sri Lankan students study medicine at countries such as Russia, India, China, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Latvia. Some also follow medicine in developed countries such as USA, England, Australia and New Zealand where the tuition fees are relatively high.
Choosing which medical school to apply requires information on cost, quality, facilities and acceptance in Sri Lanka as a doctor. The key parameters to look at are:
1. SLMC registration
A list of recognized foreign medical schools is maintained by Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC). Check SLMC we b site to find whether the University and course you are applying is recognized by them.
2. Cost of the course
What is the current tuition and fees? Is this expected to increase yearly? If so, at what rate? You don’t want to apply to schools that are financially out of reach for you.
Cost varies with country of education. According to the information provided to us by parents and students, the total cost for entire course in Bangladesh would be around 1-2 million rupees, in China around 5-6 million rupees, in India around 8 – 10 million rupees and in USA/ UK around 40 million. There are rough estimates only.
3. Quality of the education
As there is no quality evaluation procedure for foreign universities, clarify information with the present students and with passed out doctors who followed the same course. You can go to the web site of the university and check their facilities, curriculum, assignment procedure, reputation of the lecturers, research publications, laboratories and library facilities and hospital facilities for clinical education.
Visit web sites of the various medical schools, and earmark a school that is suitable for you. List of medical schools (or universities with a medical school), sorted by region and country can be found here.
4. Location
Select the country of education based on the cost and the quality of the education. Also look for living standards of the location, cost of living and the personal safety of international students, as this has been a serious issue in some places (eg. some Russian cities). Check whether the clinical sites are in a different location, how to travel, cost for traveling etc.
5. Facilities
Apart for academic facilities, look for extracurricular facilities (i.e., housing and athletic/ recreational facilities, internet accessibility). Is designated study space available? Are students required to have a laptop?
6. Duration of the course.
How many years to complete? Does this involve additional year to learn a new language. Do you have to do internship in that country? Remember that now all foreign graduates have to do one year internship in Sri Lanka after passing ERPM (Act 16) examination conducted by SLMC.
7. Medium of Instruction
It would be better to go to a course conducted in English medium, which would be useful to pass EPRM (ACT 16) examination here.
8. Local agent
There are various local agents who source students for foreign universities. We are not in a position to recommend anyone. Select an agent carefully. Do not believe in the marketing talk of the agent who is sending the students, but clarify information with other students and parents who have selected the particular medical college. Before paying check the other information with the agent.
You may wish to consult relevant embassy or education support institute in the country (such as British council, Russian cultural center) and apply directly.
9. ERPM (Act 16) examination conducted by SLMC
Although the principles of medical practice remain the same, clinical teaching and the relative emphasis on various aspects of training differ from country to country, depending on the pattern of disease prevalence and the facilities and resources available for treating them. Hence after you obtain MBBS or an equivalent degree from a recognized foreign unveristy, you have to pass Examination for Registration to Practice Medicine (ERPM) in Sri Lanka (earlier it was called Act 16) conducted by the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC). You can download the details of this examination from SLMC web site.
10. Do you really want to do medicine?
Students study very hard in Sri Lankan to become a doctor, as it is a prestigious job. However if your Z score is not sufficient to enter government free education, then your parents have to spend lots of money and you have to study hard and spend about 5-6 years time in studying this subject. Some of you may want to consider another career by following various other higher education courses as given in following posts:
Select Universities and Courses in Sri Lankan Universities
Careers in Medical Sector
Higher Education Opportunities in the Field of Biological Sciences
Courses you can do after Advanced Level
Higher Education Choices for 18+ (after GCE AL) in Sri Lanka and aborad
Related Posts:
Local vs foreign education
Select courses
Online degrees in Sri Lanka
External degrees in Sri Lanka
Careers in Medical Sector
Related posts:
[...] Medical Degrees [...]
[...] Medical Degrees [...]
I’m Studying medicine in China. The cost here is relatively cheaper than many other countries. The tuition fee is around 31000RMB and the accommodation fee is around 8000RMB per year but it is also possible to live outside of the campus which is cheaper than living in the dormitories.
The duration of the course is 6 years with the first year mainly being Chinese studies. All medical classes are done in english medium. The medical campus I study has all the necessary departments needed for each subject and has over 4 affiliated hospitals around the city. The first affiliated hospital is very near to the campus there by allowing easy access for the students for their practical work.
The University I study at is known as “Xi’an Jiaotong University” which is located in Xi’an the ancient capital of China. As of now there have not been any serious security issues and I find the city a safe place to live.
The only issue here is the registration with the SLMC. When I enrolled for the medical course the registration was still being processed but later during the next year it was rejected. So it is not possible for a graduate from this university to return to Sri Lanka and proceed with the internship. But there are always other alternatives like doing internship in another country and moving forward from there..
I would suggest that any student planning on going abroad first find details and related information and go through them thoroughly before continuing. If I can be of any assistance to anyone coming to China please let me know..contact me via e mail..
I am a medical student living in Russia. I am now studing at Volgograd state medical university. Education is good out here. I am doing in Russian medium. I got the schoollarship from Ministry of Higher Education.
This is the link for the site.
http://www.mohe.gov.lk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54&Itemid=69
If you have a higher Z score u can apply. But after I came to Russia with 3 students. we even didn’t know russian language. Authorities just take us to train and we travelled 1 day without having anyone we cant talk russian too. Sri Lankan Embassy is not caring about students.
If you are comming to russia from a scholarship through Ministry.
First thing is to know the university.
then call some senior students living in that city. that’s the best way.
This is scolarship students came to russia and we cared for them.
Living expences normally 150$-250$. It depends on the student. It is not be fear to live in Russia. Travel expences are high around Moscw and st.Petersburg. But another cities it is low. I am living in Volggrad. It was renamed before it was stalingrad. here everything is cheap than Moscow.
The minimal temprature is about -30 c. but in st.petersburg and mscow it is lower than that. In summer it is about 30-35 c it is not a problem for Sri Lankan Students.
So anyone interested in further more information contact me on facebook.
you all are wellcome to russia.
[...] Medical Degrees [...]
[...] Medical Degrees [...]
[...] Medical Degrees [...]
Ranga- We cannot recommend anything. But we have given you relevant information, it is up to readers to decide.
Dear sir,
Thank you very much for your previous answers.They were most helpful.
Sir is the private medical institute in Malabe approved by all the concerned parties in Sri Lanka?I mean UGC,SLMC etc?
I wanted to check it out for my studies but I got to know that there is much dispute going on over that. Would you recommend studying in there?
Ranga – Sorry Link for that free seminar on Career and Higher education options after A/L is this:
http://studentlanka.com/2011/08/20/exam-finished-now-what-career-and-higher-study-options-after-al/
facebook event
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=170495713022283
dear sir,
i checked the link you suggested me but it says 2010/08/16.. do you conduct this seminar in this year as well?
Ranga – You can select from various options in this site. Come to this seminar there will be experts from them you can get more info.
http://studentlanka.com/2010/08/16/free-seminar-on-career-and-higher-education-options-after-al/
Dear sir,
First of all I’d like to thank you for the wonderful guidance you are giving to students.
sir I have considered studying medicine at Romania and Georgia.. I wonder if you could give me an idea about medical education in those countries and if possible,contact numbers or email addresses of someone that i can verify with..
Also sir,can you please suggest me some other career options for someone who studied in bio stream? like Microbiology or gene technology? i mean with the assurance of the possibility of finding a job in Sri Lanka, of course. Sir do you think upcoming trends like gene technology can assure me a job once i finish my degree?
anticipating a reply and thanking you
c.thiyarangi – With PhD you cannot be a doctor. You need MBBS degree.
students who did phD in other countries,do they have to do act 16 in sri lanka?
Ravaya has published an article on EPRM examination
http://ravaya.lk/articals.php?d=5fd0b37cd7dbbb00f97ba6ce92bf5add
ශ්රී ලංකා වෛද්ය සභාව විසින් වෙනත් රටවලින් වෛද්ය උපාධිය ලබා ශ්රී ලංකාවට පැමිණෙන වෛද්යවරුන්ට දක්වන අසාධාරණ සැලකිල්ල දෙස බලද්දී පෙනීයන්නේ මෙරට අසරණ රෝගීන් හිතාමතාම අපහසුතාවට පත්කිරීමේ ක්රමවේදයක් වක්රව වෛද්ය සභාව අතින් සිදුවන බවයි.
ශ්රී ලංකා වෛද්ය සභාව විසින් වාර්ෂිකව නිකුත් කරනු ලබන කුඩා පොත් පිංචක් මගින් ලංකාවෙන් පිටත විශ්වවිද්යාල ලැයිස්තුවක් ඉදිරිපත් කරයි. එම විශ්වවිද්යාල අතර රුසියාව පමණක් නොව බංග්ලාදේශය, පාකිස්තානය, නේපාලය වැනි රටවලද විශ්වවිද්යාල අන්තර්ගතය. ඔවුන් එමගින් ප්රකාශ කරන්නේ එහි සඳහන් විශ්වවිද්යාලවලින් ලබාගන්නා වෛද්ය උපාධිය ශ්රී ලංකා වෛද්ය සභාව විසින් පිළිගන්නා බවයි. එපමණක් නොව ඒ සියලුම විශ්වවිද්යාල ලෝකයේ ඉහළම විශ්වවිද්යාල ගොන්නට ඇතුළත් වන බවත් ශ්රී ලංකාවේ එක් විශ්වවිද්යාලයක වෛද්ය පීඨයක්වත් ඒ තරම් ඉහළ මට්ටමක නොපවතින බවත් පිටරට වෛද්ය උපාධිධාරීන් ප්රකාශ කරයි. කෙසේ හෝ මෙරට වෛද්ය විද්යාලවලට ඇතුළත්වීමට නොහැකි වූ ලකුණක් දෙකක් හෝ ඊට වැඩි ප්රමාණයක් නොමැතිවීමෙන් ශ්රී ලංකාවේ වෛද්ය විද්යාලවලට ඇතුළත්වීමට සුදුසුකම් නොලැබුණු ශිෂ්යයන් මුදල් ගෙවා තම වෛද්ය සිහිනය සැබෑ කරගැනීමට ඇතුළත්වන්නේ වෛද්ය සභාව විසින් අනුමත කර තිබෙන පිටරට විශ්වවිද්යාලවලටයි. එසේ නම් ඔවුන් අනුමත කර තිබෙන්නේ පිළිගන්නවායැයි කියන්නේ තුට්ටු දෙකේ විශ්වවිද්යාලවල වෛද්ය උපාධිධාරී සාමාන්ය ජනතාවට ප්රශ්නයක් වනු ඇත.
දැනට 1620ක් පිටරට වෛද්ය උපාධිධාරීන් වෛද්යවරුන් ලෙස සේවය කරයි. තවත් 850ක් පමණ දෙනා ලියාපදිංචිව නොමැති සේවාවෙන් පිට වෙනත් රැකියා කරමින් හෝ කිසිදු රැකියාවක් නොකර සිටිති.
වෛද්ය එන්.ඡේ. නෝනිස්
මොකක්ද මේ එයාලා ඉල්ලන විනිවිදභාවය, ප්රශ්න පත්රය කලින් පිටකළ යුතුයි කියන එකද? ඒවා විශ්වවිද්යාල ඇතුළේ සිද්ධ වෙනවා. නමුත් SLMC එකේ එහෙම දේවල් කරන්නේ නැහැ.
ප්රශ්නෙ තියෙන්නේ ඔය 40ක් 50ක් විතර ඉන්නවා පිටරට වෛද්ය උපාධිය ගත්තු අය. එක දිගටම ලංකාවේ ලියාපදිංචි කිරීමේ විභාගය අසමත් වෙනවා. එයාලා තමයි ඔය දේවල් කියන්නේ.
UGC එක කියන්නේ ප්රශ්න පත්ර අමාරු නම් සමත් කිරීමේ ලකුණු ප්රමාණය අඩු කරන්න කියලා. ඒකට වෛද්ය සභාව එකඟ නැහැ. 1999 සිට දාහක් විතර විභාගය සමත්වෙලා තිබෙනවා. විදෙස් උපාධිධාරීන්ට දෙන ප්රශ්න පත්රය අමාරුයි කිව්වම අපි කිව්වා එහෙනම් MBBS එග්සෑම් එකටම ලියන්න කියල. එතනදි පොදු බහුවරණ ප්රශ්න පත්රය ඔවුන් අසමත් වෙනවා.
ඊට පස්සෙ ඒ අය නඩුවක් දැම්මා. ඒ සරත් එන්. සිල්වා විනිසුරුතුමාගේ සේවයේ අවසන් කාලය. ඔහු විස්තර අහන්නේ නැතුව අපෙන් ඇහුවා කොහොමද සමාදාන වෙන්නේ කියලා. ඊට පස්සෙ තීරණය වුණා UGC එක හරහා විභාගෙ තියන්න. තාමත් ප්රශ්න පත්ර දීලා එයාලට ඒවා එකතු කරගෙන යනවා.
නමුත් කියන්න ඕන දේ තමයි එකට කටයුතු කරන්න බලය තියෙන්නේ ලංකාවේ විශ්වවිද්යාල ගැන එයාලා කොහොමද දන්නේ. පිටරට විශ්වවිද්යාලවල දේවල්. ඒ අය ගැන ඔක්කොම රෙකෝඩ්ස් තියෙන්නේ අපි ළඟ. ඒ ගැන කටයුතු කරන්න බලය තියෙන්නේ අපිට.
Asif- contact SLMC. details above.
Sir, may i know if the erpm syllabus is still valid or not?
by the way, in the syllabus regarding surgery, there is nothing relating to cardiothorax…is cardiothorax important for the @16?