N. Paththinige1, 2, 3, L. Pathiraja1, 2, 3, D. Murrell1, 3, J. Akarawita2
Sri Lanka is an Asian country with a population of 21.44 million. The total number of specialists in dermatology is 69 and one dermatologist is covering 0.31 million people. The speciality training curriculum for dermatology has been created by the post graduate institute of medicine (PGIM) attached to university of colombo.
Practioners are eligible to sit for a competitive selection examination two years after medical school to selected for the stream of Dermatology. Annually 5 are selected (4%). The total training is 4.5 years with the last year to be abroad. First 6 months of the course is on basic dermatology followed by an assessment. Next one year trainees need to follow a general medicine course as a medical registrar in a general medicine department. End of this year there will be an assessment in medicine, with a pass rate of 60% to 80%.
In third year trainee will follow advanced dermatology in a dermatology department and will face MD dermatology exam at the end, which is a week of written and clinical examination including an external examiner. Pass rate is 50%. Upon success trainee need to do further 2 years of training, 1 year locally and the second year in an accepted centre in a foreign country. In addition trainee need to work on a reseach thesis during this period and completed report need to be submitted on or before the interview held by PGIM before board certified as a consultant dermatologist.