We sincerely thank the committed and tirelessly working management committee and the UK alumni for steering PeMSAA-UK to achieving what we pledged in our constitution & policy. Let us please highlight some our activities since the last AGM.
Scholarships and Awards:
PeMSAA-UK transferred about £3500.00 in April this year into a savings deposit account to set up 2 Studentship scholarships for disadvantaged students when they enter the medical faculty and another £1750.00 into similar deposit account to set up Littmann Stethoscope prizes for academically achieving students at 2nd MBBS examination. A substantial amount of contribution towards this fund was received from Professor Panabokke charity collection. We are extremely grateful to the anonymous UK alumnus donor for continuing to support the “PeMSAA-UK Research/ Audit/ Quality improvement Project Award” by guaranteeing £500.00 annually to incentivise junior alumni in Sri Lanka to encourage in research projects at the grass root level.
Sponsorship:
We are continuing to sponsor the International Medicine and Surgery journals to the library at a cost of nearly £500 a year. The original request came from Prof Ratnatunga and we are happy to continue to support this project until 2022 when the management committee will review this project.
Following an appeal from the current Dean Prof Asiri Abeyagunawardena, in June 2020 PeMSAA-UK arranged a donation of 2nd MBBS books; a set of all three, Biochemistry, Physiology and Anatomy for 10 needy students at a cost of £660.
Mentoring and Educational Activities:
We are continuing to support post MD doctors from Sri Lanka arriving in UK for overseas training. However we feel there are many trainees who may be missing this assistance to better their experience in UK. We are working with the Dean at the faculty and the parent PeMSAA to identify all those who are visiting the UK to improve the uptake. Two of our management committee members led workshops in December 2019 at the Faculty and Kandy hospital to share their experiences working in UK.
In August 2020 we hosted a very successful Webinar “Covid-19 the Current and Future Developments.” This will hopefully give us impetus to host similar Webinars on a regular basis in the future.
Communication and Networking:
PeMSAA-UK is continuing to improve the networking with alumni and like-minded associations. To succeed with our endeavour we are continuing to keep our evolving website updated regularly. Since April 2020 we started the publication of PeMSAA-UK Newsletter; the aim is to produce and circulate one, every quarter to highlight our current and future activities. We are also working very closely with the parent PeMSAA for our mutual benefits. We would encourage many of our UK alumni becoming annual or life members of PeMSAA-UK. A successful membership drive depends on each and everyone of your support.
Transparency and Quality Monitoring:
To be able to maintain a credible and transparent working, we have made comprehensive changes to the Association’s Constitution, which would withstand the challenges and comply with 21st century requirements in UK. The amended Constitution was shared with the Management Committee and has received approval and ratified at the AGM.
Working as an efficient team needs clarity and understanding of the aims, roles and responsibilities. To that effect we have produced a “Management Committee Hand Book” with attachments of agreed policies and guidance for reference. The PeMSAA-UK holds regular Agenda based Committee meetings with updates from the Honorary Treasurer. The recorded minutes of every scheduled meeting is shared and approved before saved for future references.
Though the association is yet to become a registered Charity organisation we have Trustees to monitor and Quality Assure the association’s work. The Board of Trustee meeting was held in early November 20, and a report will be presented at the AGM.
Future Activities:
Membership Drive: PeMSAA-UK would want to attract more paid up annual and life members. The fund raised from this will be ring fenced to give a stable foundation for the function of the association. We kindly request each and everyone of you to assist us with our endeavour with our membership drive.
Academic events: We hope to continue with regular academic webinars for UK, global alumni and to offer our services to the Dean and academic staff at the faulty to assist with undergraduate and postgraduate students educational needs.
2021 International Academic Conference, Prof Varagunam memorial Lecture and annual Ball: We have already paid a deposit to Crowne Plaza Marlow in Buckinghamshire, to host the event on 18th September 2021 and we anticipate that there will be some global normality for us to hold a traditional conference and get together. I once again thank the members of the Management Committee and all the PeMSAA-UK members for your on-going support and guidance.
PeMSAA-UK is a nonprofit organisation based in the United Kingdom established by the alumni of the Peradeniya Medical School, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.
