Ceylon Medical College
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| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Active | 1 June 1870–1 July 1942 |
| Location |
Colombo, Western Province, Ceylon 06°55′08.30″N 79°52′16.30″E / 6.9189722°N 79.8711944°ECoordinates: 06°55′08.30″N 79°52′16.30″E / 6.9189722°N 79.8711944°E |
| Campus | Urban campus |
Ceylon Medical College was a public medical school in Ceylon. The college was established in 1870 as the Colombo Medical School. The college was based in Colombo. The college was merged with Ceylon University College in 1942 to form the University of Ceylon. The medical college became the university's faculty of medicine. The college was also known as Colombo Medical College.
The Bengal Medical College was established in Calcutta in 1835. In 1839 Stewart-Mackenzie, the British Governor of Ceylon, started sending a small number of Ceylonese to study medicine in Calcutta. In 1847 Samuel Fisk Green, an American medical missionary, started a private medical school in Manipay, northern Ceylon. The establishment of a medical school in Ceylon was advocated by Governor George William Anderson in 1852.
The island was hit by the yaws disease in the 1860s, leading to a massive depopulation in the Vanni. In 1867 governor Hercules Robinson appointed James Loos, the colonial surgeon for the Northern Province, to investigate the depopulation. Amongst Loos' recommendations was that there should be a plan for medical education in the country. The Colombo Medical School was opened on 1 June 1870 by Governor Robinson. The school was based in the female surgical ward of the then General Hospital in Colombo. The school was controlled by the government's Principal Civil Medical Officer. The school's courses lasted five years after which students sat examinations and if they passed they received a diploma of Licentiate of Medicine and Surgery (LMS). This allowed them to practice medicine and surgery. The school had lecture rooms, laboratories, dissecting rooms and two libraries. Physics and chemistry was taught at Ceylon Technical College. The first batch consisted of 25 students (all male). James Loos was the school's first principal.
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