Message from the President

Dear Members of SLMA,

In April 2005, SLMA NEWS, the Newsletter of the Sri Lanka Medical Association carried the Editor’s note, “SLMA Sessions Totally Virtual – A Dream or Reality?”. That prediction I made 15 years ago, as the then Editor of the SLMA, has now become a reality. The 133rd Anniversary International Medical Congress of the Sri Lanka Medical Association was held as a virtual on-line conference from 24th to 26th July 2020, and webcast worldwide from the historic Wijerama House in Colombo. The congress, previously known as annual sessions, returned to Wijerama House after 20 years.

The Congress was aptly themed “Professional Development for Quality Enhancement of Healthcare: Beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. It was a complete conference conducted over three days in two parallel venues with all the regular components. The 133rd Anniversary International Virtual Medical Congress of the SLMA was a unique blend of tradition and technology in the era of new normal. Combining the best of real-life and virtual. 

I thank all of you for making the 133rd Anniversary International Virtual Medical Congress of the SLMA a grand success!

Professor Indika Karunathilake, President, SLMA

Welcome to the Sri Lanka Medical Association

The Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA) is the national professional medical association in Sri Lanka, which brings together medical practitioners of all grades and all branches of medicine.

The SLMA is the oldest professional medical association in Asia and Australasia, with a proud history that dates back to 1887. At its inception, it was called the ‘Ceylon Branch of the British Medical Association’. Later it evolved into the ‘Ceylon Medical Association’ (1951) and after Sri Lanka became a Republic in 1972, it became the ‘Sri Lanka Medical Association’.The Association aims to provide a forum for its members to further their professional and academic development.

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