Deteriorating resources for undergraduate medical education in Peradeniya Medical School

Objective: To study the resources available for final year undergraduate clinical medical education in the professorial units.

Design: The number of academic staff and the number of hospital beds available in the clinical departments were studied in relation to the number of students admitted annually from 1981-2004. Annual recurrent funding (adjusted according to the Colombo Consumer Price Index) made available per student from 1994-2004 was also studied.

Setting: Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.

Results: There was a steady increase in the student: staff ratio and a reduction in the hospital beds: student ratio in all professorial units. The student: staff ratio increased from 15.2 to 48 (215.7%), 19 to 48 (152.6%), 9.5 to 21.3 (124.2%) and 12.7 to 21.3 (66.4%) respectively in the departments of Pediatrics, Obstetrics & Gynecology, Surgery and Medicine while the hospital beds per student ratio declined from 2.2 to 1.6 (26.6%), 5.6 to 2.7 (51.5%), 4.7 to 1.9 (58.7%) and 5.2 to 2.3 (56.3%) respectively from 1981-2004. The recurrent funds utilized per student also reduced from Rs. 11,542/- to Rs. 9,352/- (18.9%), Rs. 8,149/- to Rs. 5,477/- (32.7%), Rs. 13,114/- to Rs. 8,972/- (31.5%) and Rs. 18,109/- to Rs. 12,142/- (32.9%) from 1994–2004 (Prices adjusted according to the Colombo Consumers' Price index) in respective departments.

Conclusion: There has been a gradual deterioration in funding, academic staffing and hospital beds available for undergraduate medical education in all (professorial) clinical units over the last 2 decades.

IndexWords: Resources; Facilities; Undergraduate; Medical Education

DOI: 10.4038/gmj.v16i1.2905

Galle Medical Journal, Vol 16: No. 1, March 2011 pp.22-28