The Embassy linked the Medical Faculties of the University of Colombo and Hacettepe University

The Embassy of Sri Lanka in Ankara coordinated a virtual meeting between Deans of the Medical Faculties of the University of Colombo and Hacettepe University on 27^th August 2021.  Prof. Vajira H.W. Dissanayake, Dean of Faculty of Medicine / President Sri Lanka Medical Council exchanged constructive proposals and plans with his counterpart Prof. Dr. Mehmet Deniz Demiryurek, Dean Faculty of Medicine, Hacettepe University to establish links to exchanges students, academic and joint research collaborations between two medical faculties. Both faculties agreed to continue their deliberations to fine tune their future projects.

Ambassador M. Rizvi Hassen, Dr. Eranga Wijewickrama, Chair of Faculty of Medicine and Head of International Unit and Prof. Dr. Eda Utine, Vice Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Hacettepe University  attended the meeting.

The Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo is the second oldest medical school in South Asia and the forerunner of university education in Sri Lanka. For more than 100 years it was the only medical school in the island and its contribution to the health of the nation by way of providing health services, medical education and medical research is difficult to measure.  The Colombo Medical School later became Medical Faculty was opened in 1870 by then Governor Sir Hercule Robinson. Dr. James Loos was its first principal. Dr. E.L. Koch was the second principal in whose memory the Koch memorial clock tower, which still stands, was built in 1881.

The Chair of Child Health, which is considered the beginning of Hacettepe Faculty of Medicine, was founded on February 2, 1954 by Prof. Dr. İhsan Doğramacı under the Faculty of Medicine of Ankara University is the leading medical faculties in Turkey. Presently the medical faculty continues its contributions to social development and universal values in the fields of science, technology and art with 16 Faculties, 15 Institutes, 4 Vocational Schools, 2 Colleges, 1 Conservatory, 98 Research and Application Centers.