The Hon. (Dr.) Nalinda Jayatissa
In response to a question on specialist medical services, the Minister stated that Sri Lanka has 72 specialist services with an approved cadre of 3,181, of whom 2,042 are serving, leaving 1,139 vacancies across 134 hospitals. He provided figures on losses from the specialist cadre during 2020-2024, including 82 vacation-of-post notices, 7 resignations, 57 permanent releases, 191 no-pay leave cases and 233 retirements, as well as annual selections for specialist training and age profiles. He said PGIM admissions and board certification follow merit-based entrance, local and foreign training, and assessment processes, while shortages are linked to competitive entry, limited training capacity and pass rates, and added that steps are being taken with PGIM and professional colleges to expand capacity and streamline training.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, the answers are as follows:
¶ 02 (a) (i) There are 72 specialist services. Approved cadre is 3,181. Including those applied for the 2025 annual list, serving specialists number 2,042. Vacancies are 1,139. Details are in Annexure 01. (ii) The number of hospitals that should have specialist services is 134. Vacancies total 1,139. Hospital-wise details are in Annexure 02. (iii) From 2020-2024: notices of vacation of post — 82; resignations — 7; permanent releases to other institutions — 57; no-pay leave — 191; retirements — 233; total — 570. Annexure 03 provides year-wise details. (iv) Selected for specialist training by year: 2020 — 518; 2021 — 268; 2022 — 199; 2023 — 275; 2024 — 294. (v) The Postgraduate Institute of Medicine (PGIM) admits doctors to postgraduate programmes after they pass the entrance examination. Numbers registered by programme 2020-2024 are in Annexure 04 (listed by each of the 72 specialties). (vi) Over 60 years — 201; age 55-60 — 546.
¶ 03 (b) (i) 134 graded hospitals should have specialist services (as per Annexure 02). (ii) Doctors are admitted to PGIM programmes after passing the entrance exam; after in-service training slots are allocated by merit order. Completion requirements and pass criteria vary by specialty; those meeting criteria qualify. Unsuccessful candidates may re-sit. After local and foreign training (minimum one year each, varying by specialty), candidates face the Pre-Board Certification Assessment (PBCA) before Board Certification. Training and certification follow global standards and are periodically reviewed. Where numbers fall short, it is due to entrance competitiveness, limited training capacity/units, and varying pass rates by specialty. (iii) Steps are being taken with PGIM and Colleges to expand training capacity and streamline processes.
¶ 04 (c) Does not arise.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Thursday, 7 August 2025 ·No. 1755509552009433 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. (Dr.) Nalinda Jayatissa. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 7 August 2025. No. 1755509552009433. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/24254