The Department of Surgery is committed to excellence in training of undergraduates and postgraduates in the field of Surgery.

The aim is to produce a Medical Graduate competent in the management of emergency surgical disorders, identifying and planning the management of common elective surgical disorders, with a scientific understanding of the natural history of the disease.

Undergraduates training leading to MBBS consists of lectures, tutorials, Laboratory based skills training and clinical training. The clinical training is conducted in the specialties of General Surgery (24 weeks of which 8 in the University surgical Unit), Orthopaedic Surgery (4 weeks), Otolaryngology (2 weeks), Ophthalmology (2 weeks), Anaesthesiology (4 weeks), Oncology (one week), Oncosurgery (one week), Neuro Surgery (one week) and Urology (one week). During the General Surgical rotation special areas like vascular & Transplant surgery, Trauma surgery, Gastrointestinal Surgery, Endocrine and Breast Surgery are covered. In Pediatric Surgical disorders, lectures and ward classes are held. 

Third year and fourth year clinical rotations take place in the teaching hospital, Kandy and the final year Professorial surgical appointment at the Teaching Hospital, Peradeniya.

Undergraduates are encouraged to evaluate patients independently and plan out the management. Certain aspects of the management are carried out by undergraduates under the supervision of the competent medical staff (eg. suturing a wound, excision of cutaneous or small subcutaneous lesions)

Elective clerkships for overseas students are arranged in either of the above hospitals. Special attention is given to meet the needs of the applicants.

Formative evaluations are done during the clinical training and the final summative evaluation is carried out as a part of the Final MBBS examination.