Department of Parasitology was initiated as Division of Parasitology under the Department of Pathology in May 1980 in the Pathology Laboratory building at the Jaffna Teaching Hospital. It was moved to the Ground floor of the Main Faculty building in 1982 then to the 1st floor 1987. After the completion of the construction of the 2nd floor the Division was moved to the present location in 1988. Although the division was performed well at the beginning, the activities were declined drastically during the past war situation mainly due to the migration of qualified staff members from the faculty and also due to the loss of valuable equipment at the time of displacements.

With the settlement of the war and the peace atmosphere prevailing in last few years, the Division has been gradually improved in it’s infrastructural and laboratory facilities. Considering the improvement, the division has been upgraded to the status of Department in August 2017. In addition to the Medical Parasitology course for undergraduate students of the MBBS course and the Allied Health Sciences, the Department is also involved in daily routine investigation of stool and blood samples received from the Jaffna Teaching Hospital to diagnose the specific parasitic diseases for which they referred.

By considering the responsibility to function as the regional laboratory to diagnose and investigate the emerging parasitological diseases in the Northern part of the country, we are presently involved in the process of establishing an advance research laboratory with the unique sections for immunology, Molecular biology and culture works. After the successful completion of this project we will be competent in performing DNA and immunological based diagnosis of any parasitic diseases, prevailing in the northern population as the service function.