title: The assistant medical officer in Sri Lanka: mid-level health worker in decline.
abstract: The history of Assistant Medical Officers (AMOs) in Sri Lanka can be traced back to the 1860s. Their training from the beginning followed an allopathic, 'evidence based' model. AMOs have played a key role in rural and peripheral health care, through staffing of government central dispensaries and maternity homes and may have contributed to Sri Lanka's favorable health outcomes. While there are currently approximately 2000 AMOs, their training course was discontinued in 1995. It was argued that the quality of care provided by the AMOs is substandard relative to that of physicians. The success, rapid expansion and integration of physician assistant programs into the US health care system have recently spurred other countries to introduce similar programs. This paper reviews Sri Lanka's move in the opposite direction, phasing out the AMO profession, without any research into their contributions to access to interprofessional primary health care and positive health outcomes.
authors: Faculty of Medicine, University of Ruhuna, Galle, Sri Lanka.
authors: Vijitha
authors: V
authors: De Silva
authors: Justine
authors: J
authors: Strand de Oliveira
authors: Mahinda
authors: M
authors: Liyanage
authors: Truls
authors: T
authors: Østbye
mesh_terms: D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D010823:Physician Assistants / Q000266:history* / Q000592:standards / Q000600:supply & distribution* / Q000639:trends; D011050:Policy Making; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D013188:Sri Lanka