Thushika Sivapalan from Sri Lanka is a 3rd-year student of the Faculty of General Medicine of Yerevan State Medical University named after Mkhitar Heratsi.
In her opinion, Armenia is a state where medical education is recognized throughout the world. According to the future pediatrician, Armenia is both accessible and offers many perspectives to foreign students on the way to becoming a doctor.
“When we talk about the facilities in YSMU, it has a point system, an absence system, it not only grades us on our final exam, but also grades us on our work throughout the semester to constantly motivate us. The absence system pushes us to show up to the class, and it centers us in a learning system”, Thushika says emphasizing that YSMU does provide her with the most amazing experience.
She chose medicine because she always wanted to help people. “My whole family had been into science, and I really wanted to do my part in that world as well. It was a dream, and it is a dream technically”, Thushika tells.
She will choose the profession a pediatrician later: “I love helping kids, helping those innocent beings get better”.
Regarding the good things about being a doctor Thushika thinks that most people get into being a doctor because it is a very respective profession. “You are helping someone else’s life be better, not only their life, but also their loved ones in a way of spreading happiness. The profession of a doctor is noble”, she assures. The bad point, according to her, is that doctors would have to give up the part of their lives, so they choose to put themselves secondly.
What refers to the most important qualities for a doctor, Thushika says: “Around two years ago I will have said the most important qualities of the doctor should be compassion, selflessness, always helping others. But now I realized that not only compassion and selflessness are important: you need to be determined to know what decision is the best, you need to be very strong-willed as well. All of these together will make you a successful doctor. Your patients will always trust you as long as you are kind. You have their life in your hand, so you have to make sure you are right. That’s why you need to be hardworking, so that you can help people even better”.
Today, more than 200 Sri Lankan students are receiving education at the Medical University. Most of them are distinguished by high achievement.
