The Opening Ceremony of Professorial Unit of the Institute of Indigenous Medicine, University of Colombo, National Ayurveda Teaching Hospital
The opening ceremony of the Professorial Unit of the Institute of Indigenous Medicine, University of Colombo was held on 15th of June 2022 at the National Ayurveda Teaching Hospital, Borella with the participation of the Vice chancellor of the University of Colombo, Senior Professor (Chair) H. D. Karunaratne, Dr. Dhammika Abegunawardena, The Commissioner of Ayurveda, Senior Professor, Priyani A Paranagama, The Director of the Institute of Indigenous Medicine, Senior Professor Vidya Jyothi Vajira H. W. Dissanayake, The Dean, Faculty of the Medicine, University of Colombo, Dr. Shanthi Kuburegedara, The Director of the National Ayurveda Teaching Hospital & Members of the Board of Management of the Institute.
The goal of the overall initiative, hereafter referred to the Professorial Unit (PU), is to arrive at an academic structure that better reflects the University’s size and scope, and enhances progress on its Strategic Planning Framework priorities in particular, and the University’s ability to meet its mandate more generally. It gives the clear opportunities to improve the University’s academic structure in the practical training areas, along with the need to address common issues and concerns of the medical education and research. This would be useful starting point in a plan to simplify and improve the University’s academic structure, and work together in consultation with the institutional members, medical officers, hospital staff, students and external stakeholders, to identify viable options for effective medical education.
The NAH is currently under the State Ministry of Indigenous Medicine Promotion, Rural and Ayurvedic Hospital Development and Community Health. The proposed Ayurveda Teaching Hospital is planned to support Ayurveda and Unani medical students of the Institute of Indigenous Medicine (IIM) in education, research and to improve and simplify the Institute’s current academic structure and to give effective clinical training to the Ayurveda and Unani medical students. In present era, it is worthy to be noted that the medical institutes under various universities have established professorial units in the teaching hospitals to improve the quality of teaching and clinical training with overly elaborated academic structure.
The proposal advances the creation of a new, integrated Professorial Unit to support learning, discovery and engagement in the health sciences as a first major step in simplifying and improving the medical education especially clinical training of the undergraduate and postgraduate students. In addition to the ceremonial of the professorial unit, new website for the professorial unit was also launched to grace the occasion.
