The decision taken by the Higher Education Ministry to set up three new State sector Medical Faculties will open doors to a large number of students for medical education while minimizing the competition, the University Grants Commission said.
The Government had planned to set up three new State sector Medical Faculties at Wayamba, Sabaragamuwa and Moratuwa universities before the end of 2018.
The first in these series will be set up at Kurunegala by the end of this year, said Higher Education Minister Lakshman Kiriella.
Work on the Ratnapura State Medical Faculty will be launched at the beginning of next year and the Moratuwa new faculty will be launched during the latter half of next year, Kiriella said.
An amount of Rs. 1250 million has been allocated by Finance Minister for this in the budget.
Meanwhile, RS.50 million has been allocated from the budget to establish a Professional Unit at Karapitiya Teaching Hospital, as a measure of developing the Medical Faculty of Ruhuna University.
