The mission of this endeavor is to ultimately produce “a lead clinician capable of providing medical care in any emergency situation, independent of the location and effectively lead and safely manage common acute problems, with confidence, and competent to make decisions under pressure of time to save lives, even in a mass scale, whilst preventing further injury”.
The tsunami in 2004 was a significant impetus for initiating emergency training in Sri Lanka. This highlighted the need for the development of a coordinated emergency response from trained personnel, especially at a national level. In this context, to date, various activities have taken place, for example, establishment of emergency ambulance services and emergency call numbers in some cities (e.g. Colombo), inauguration of a new ministry for disaster management, higher focus for training in emergency care (CPR programmes) for all categories of staff including doctors, nurses, and ambulance men, initiation of disaster management training centers, and construction of dedicated emergency care units.
In Sri Lanka, most seriously ill patients are admitted to hospitals through OPDs (Out Patient Departments). With the current enthusiasm, there had been several pilot programmes too to improve emergency care provided in OPDs.
For example, establishment of ETUs (emergency treatment units), PCUs (Preliminary Care Units), and Accident Centres (Colombo NHSL). Despite above, our medical officers serving in OPDs are often non specialists. Yet they are expected to handle patients needing emergency care, first hand, within a poorly organized and ill-equipped environment. The Ministry of Health has attempted to improve this situation by the appointment of VP/OPDs.
There is no lead clinician (a specialist) who is trained to coordinate all the above activities and also be in the forefront of emergency clinical management i.e. pre- hospital care, patient transport and emergency care in hospital on admission.
Emergency Medicine, an accepted specialty in many developed countries involves emergency management of critically ill medical, surgical/trauma, paediatric and gynaecology and obstetrics patients. These specialists are specifically trained for above through a specialist training programme similar to other clinical specialties.
This has resulted in safer emergency care, more efficient hospital throughput, better use of scarce hospital resources and the development of a system of care for trauma and emergency patients. The International federation for Emergency Medicine (IFEM) defines the specialty of Emergency Medicine as “a field of practice based on the knowledge and skills required for the prevention, diagnosis, and management of acute and urgent aspects of illness and injury affecting patients of all age groups with a full spectrum of episodic undifferentiated physical and behavioral disorders; it further encompasses an understanding of the development of pre-hospital and in- hospital medical systems and the skills necessary for this development”.
The training programme leading to board certification will result in an Emergency Physician who is a lead clinician capable of providing medical care in any emergency situation, independent of the location and effectively lead and safely manage common acute problems, with confidence, and competent to make decisions under pressure of time to save lives, even in a mass scale, whilst preventing further injury.
- A medical degree registered with the Sri Lanka Medical Council
- Satisfactory completion of internship acceptable to the Sri Lanka Medical council
- Satisfactory completion of one year of post internship in medical practice in a University/Public Sector Institution/Non-State sector in Sri Lanka acceptable to the PGIM as at the date of closure of applications.
Please refer to the relevant prospectus for the most up to date information. The prospectus of a particular programme contains official information pertaining to a programme approved by the Board of Management, University Senate and the University Grants Commission