Medical acupuncture was introduced to Srilanka by professor Anton Jayasuriya. In 1974, the Government of Sri Lanka and the WHO granted Anton Jayasuriya a scholarship to study Acupuncture in the People’s Republic of China.[2] After receiving his certificate to practice, Anton Jayasuriya embarked on his mission to teach the art of Acupuncture and Traditional Medicine. Since this time, hundreds of thousands of people from over 140 countries have been taught complementary medicine by him. However, these teachings or individuals who completed the training did not have a government-authorized regulatory body to be registered nor they were registered in the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) or the Ayurvedic Medical Council as Acupuncture practitinors. This resulted in an increase in malpractice of acupuncture. Due to this and the increase in number of acupuncturists in Sri Lanka over the years, the need for a governing body to ensure the safe practicing of acupuncture was strongly felt.[3][4]
A degree awarding programme on medical science in acupuncture was initiated by the Kaatsu international university (KIU) under the extraordinary gazette; section 25 A of the Universities Act, No. 16 of 1978 on the 7th of January 2015.This is the first bachelor’s degree programme on acupuncture that was recognized by the university grants commission and the ministry of higher education in Srilanka.[5][6][7]
To address the issue of unregulated acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) malpractice, a group of medical acupuncturists who graduated from this program pioneered the formation of a self-regulatory body to gather the professionals in the field of acupuncture and TCM in order to maintain high professional standards in the practice of acupuncture in Sri Lanka.
On the 22nd of June 2022 this self-regulatory body, The Ceylon association of medical acupuncturists (CAMA) was initiated by Dr. Vimukthi Asahara, Dr. Adheesha.D. Dayarathna and Dr. Imesha Hemasinghe. The inaugural general meeting of CAMA was held on 21st of July 2022 with the participation of 17 members. Dr. Vimukthi Asahara was elected as the first president of the association. Dr. Imesha Hemasinghe was elected as the vice president and Dr. Kaveesha.D. Ranasinghe as the secretary. Dr. C. Indrapala was appointed as the chief advisor.[8]
- https://camasl.org/.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ https://ceylon.guide/2021/05/29/anton-jayasuriya/.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ https://ceylon.guide/2021/05/29/anton-jayasuriya/.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ https://www.themorning.lk/unregulated-acupuncture-clinics-a-disaster-waiting-to-happen/.
{{cite news}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ (PDF) https://www.mohe.gov.lk/images/pdf/kk1896-22_E.pdf.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ https://ugc.ac.lk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=101&Itemid=37&lang=en.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ https://www.mohe.gov.lk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=352&Itemid=336&lang=en#recognized-degrees.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ https://camasl.org/.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ https://camasl.org/about-us/.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help)