Mental Health Licensing & Regulation in Sri Lanka: 2025 Guide

If you are seeing a psychiatrist, clinical psychologist or another practitioner in Sri Lanka, or choosing one for yourself or a family member, it helps to know who registers them, what registration means, and how to check that a person is properly registered. This guide sets out what the country's medical regulator does, which mental-health practitioners it registers, how to verify someone, and what you can do if something goes wrong.

How practitioners are regulated in Sri Lanka, in short

The Sri Lanka Medical Council, or SLMC, is the statutory body that registers and regulates health professionals. Its purpose is to protect the people who seek care, by upholding the academic and professional standards, discipline and ethics of the professionals on its register. Its powers come from the Medical Ordinance (Chapter 105 of the Legislative Enactments) and the regulations made under it.¹

The Council can also inquire into complaints about a registered practitioner, and can suspend a registration or erase a practitioner from the register.

Doctors and psychiatrists

Anyone who practises medicine in Sri Lanka must be registered with the Sri Lanka Medical Council under the Medical Ordinance. A psychiatrist is a doctor, so a psychiatrist registers by this same route. Registration is not a single step. A medical graduate first receives provisional registration, which lets them begin a mandatory internship.²

The internship is a compulsory period of practical clinical training. Only after completing it is the graduate granted practitioner registration, the final licence that allows them to work independently as a doctor. Beyond practitioner registration the Council grants specialist registration, which is mandatory for practising as a specialist in Sri Lanka.²

Clinical psychologists

Clinical psychologists also register with the SLMC. The Council runs their registration, keeps a register, and issues a good standing certificate and a certificate of extract of registration. A clinical psychologist can also update their details in the register through the Council.³ Being on the register is how the Council attests that the person meets its standards.

Counsellors

Counsellors are not on the Council's list of the professions it registers, which covers medical practitioners, dentists, midwives, clinical psychologists, speech therapists and occupational therapists. If you are seeing a counsellor, ask which body they are registered with and check with that body directly. For what the qualifications behind a counsellor's title mean, see our guide to academic credentials for mental health professionals in Sri Lanka.

How to check a practitioner is registered

Ask any doctor, psychiatrist or clinical psychologist for their SLMC registration number before you begin care.

You can also check for yourself: the register search is on the Council's homepage at slmc.gov.lk, under "Search Our Registers". The Council runs a public register search where you can check whether a practitioner is registered with the SLMC and their qualifications.⁵

The search is split into two registries, the Medical Practitioners Registry and the Allied Health Registry.⁵ A psychiatrist is a doctor, so the Medical Practitioners Registry is where to look first. The Council registers clinical psychologists too, alongside midwives, speech therapists and others.³

The Council's register pages do not say which of the two registries holds clinical psychologists, but the Council lists clinical psychologists on its Allied Health Professionals services page, so for a clinical psychologist the Allied Health Registry is the one to try first. If that search returns nothing, try the Medical Practitioners Registry before you conclude anything. An empty result in the wrong registry is indistinguishable from the result for a practitioner who is not registered.

The Council's other verification services are employment-related rather than a public lookup, and are handled by email or at the Council's counter. Those cover verification of registration of practitioners prior to employment by health care institutions, and the verification of medical certificates issued for foreign employment⁴, rather than a member of the public looking someone up. Requests for these verifications are sent to verifications@slmc.gov.lk. If a register search does not settle whether someone is registered, note that the Council's phone lines are unavailable and enquiries go through its support ticket system at slmc.gov.lk/en/support-ticket.

If you have a concern about a practitioner

Beyond registration, the Council can inquire into complaints made against any practitioner on its register. Such disciplinary inquiries follow the procedure set out in the Medical Disciplinary (Procedure) Regulations 1990. Under those regulations, a complaint is made by a written statement addressed to the Registrar setting out the facts alleged against the practitioner.⁶ Where the complaint relates to infamous conduct, negligence or incapacity in professional duties, it must also be supported by an affidavit as to the facts alleged. That affidavit requirement is dispensed with where the complaint is made by a person acting in a public capacity.

A complaint that meets those requirements is first assessed by the Preliminary Proceedings Committee, which determines whether there are sufficient grounds to proceed. A formal disciplinary inquiry is then conducted by the Professional Conduct Committee. The outcome of an inquiry may be that the practitioner is exonerated, temporarily suspended, or erased from the register.⁶ The Council sets out how to raise a concern on its Raise Concerns page at slmc.gov.lk/en/services/public/complaint.

Quick reference

This guide is general information about how registration and complaints work in Sri Lanka, not legal advice.

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References

1. [1] SLMC — About the Council slmc.gov.lk/en/about/slmc.
2. [2] SLMC — Medical Practitioners services slmc.gov.lk/en/services/medical-practitioners.
3. [3] SLMC — Allied Health Professionals services slmc.gov.lk.
4. [4] SLMC — Verify a Practitioner (verification services) slmc.gov.lk/en/services/public/verify.
5. [5] Sri Lanka Medical Council — official site, Search Our Registers slmc.gov.lk.
6. [6] SLMC — Raise Concerns / Complaint slmc.gov.lk/en/services/public/complaint.