THE MBBS DEGREE PROGRAMME

From 2004 the faculty has adopted an organ-system based integrated curriculum. The MBBS course run by the Faculty is of five years duration, each academic year consisting of three 10-week terms. The medium of instruction is English. There are three professional examinations at the end of each Phase. The first two years (Phase I) is devoted to study of normal structure and function of the human body. Clinical training commences with the beginning of Phase II in the third year of study. During their third and fourth years, students are expected to do clinical attachments in the mornings, returning to the Faculty premises for lectures, tutorials and laboratory classes in the afternoons.

The clinical attachments cover a wide variety of specialties which include Medicine, Surgery, Paediatrics, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Psychiatry, Anaesthesiology, Forensic Medicine, Rheumatology, Dermatology, Venereology, Neurology, Cardiology, Ophthalmology, Otolaryngology, Orthopaedic Surgery, Radiology, Family Medicine, Community Medicine and Clinical Pathology. They vary in duration from two weeks to two months. During their fourth year, students carry out supervised research projects in Community Medicine and allied subjects.

During the final year (Phase III), learning is almost entirely hospital-based, with students assigned eight-week clerkships in Medicine, Surgery, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Paediatrics and Psychiatry in the University units of the Colombo North Teaching Hospital. The Final MBBS examination consists of the disciplines of Medicine, Psychiatry, Surgery, Obstetrics & Gynaecology and Paediatrics.

After passing the Final MBBS examination, students must complete 12 months of internship to obtain full registration to practice medicine in Sri Lanka from the Sri Lanka Medical Council.