Prof. Carlo Fonseka passes away at age 86
September 2, 2019 01:45
Renowned physician and academic, Professor Carlo Fonseka has passed away, today (02), at the age of 86 years, family sources told Ada Derana.
Professor Carlo Fonseka was a former dean of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya and a former president of the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC).
Being a political activist, Professor Fonseka was a prominent member of the Trotskyist Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP). He was a member of the party’s central committee and politburo and lead its branch in Kotte.
He was a vocal critic of private medical education and campaigned against the NCMC in the early 1980s.
Fonseka was also a lyricist and composer and has produced a number of albums including Carlochita Gee (1992) and Raththaran Duwe (2006).
I remember Carlo F as a fine teacher and a kind man when the teaching milieu at the Faculty was full of big egos. As a respected lecturer his simplicity stood out. He was a regular contributor to the newspapers on a multitude of subjects when he received bouquets and brickbats in equal measure.
ReplyDeleteWith Abraham T Kovoor he was an active member of the Rationalist Society which gained tremendous popularity in SL
Sri Lanka has lost a person who has made a tremendous contribution to medical education and society.
May he find eternal peace
Sorry to hear about Prof Carlo's demise.We had a short spell with his as a junior lecture,when he proceeded to UK for his Post-Doctorate.He was back before our Final results and was present at the Board meeting,when the results were finalised.We were waiting at the stair case when the Board members were descending down the stairs.I remember very well Carlo telling Upali Wijeratne about his getting a second class.Dr.R P J.told Jimmy that Jimmy too had been successful in getting honours(second class).Carlo was a born Catholic;I wonder whether he practiced his faith at all.There was a panel of discussion about religious beliefs at the Medical faculty and Mr.Kovoor had to defend his beliefs against all the other religious groups.There were some followers of Kovoor in the faculty and some of them were from St:Thomas,where Mr.Kovoor was a teacher.I wonder whether Nihal attended that debate,I have mentioned.
ReplyDeleteSumathy
DeleteI remember the debate taking place but did not attend. I recall the fire-walking debate. He loved an argument and was involved in numerous controversies and debates which I viewed from the sidelines but was never in the thick of it.
As a lecturer he was brilliant and as a person genuinely kind and helpful. That is what I will remember him for.
Carlo Fonseka will be remembered for many things. He was an accomplished teacher and mentor. He enjoyed controversy and had an enquiring mind and was always keen on questioning and challenging accepted dogma. I would be amazed if he was a practising Catholic. He had political view very definitely left of centre and had lots of friends and admirers and a few "enemies", no doubt. He was an exceptional man and his literary and musical talents were also considerable. I recall very vividly his demonstration of fire walking after taking a good swallow of arrack and eating pork to practically show that there was no magic in it. Needless to say, after he walked the fire, his feet remained pristine! I have only fond memories and a great deal of respect for him.
ReplyDeleteThe last time I met Prof. Carlo was in 2010 when I visited him at his home to personally hand over a complimentary copy of my Memoirs - "From Hikkaduwa to the Carolinas". He had asked me to come on a Sunday morning and the ground floor of his house was full of patients who had come to attend his free medical clinic. Until Prof. Carlo walked down, I was chatting with a doctor who had come to assist him at the clinic. He told me that this was a regular event on Sundays.
ReplyDeleteI first met Carlo in June 1962 when we entered the faculty and we were the first batch that he taught.He taught us nero-physiology and our group had pre-clinicals on Saturday mornings with George Ratnavel. By a happy co-incidence when Carlo lectured to us about Parkinsonism, George R. showed us such a patient ,the following Saturday morning! The very same scenario was repeated for tabes dorsalis, peripheral neuropathy etc.etc.
ReplyDeleteWhen I joined the faculty as a lecturer on 1st April 1969, we became colleagues.When I was about to travel to London for PG exams, Carlo advised me to examine white caucasian kids, before I went for the exam as otherwise I would be over diagnosing optic atrophy because of less pigmentation! He told me that when he sat for the MRCP, he was given a "heart case". When he auscultated the patient, he heard sounds that he had never heard before and obviously he had failed. Later he realised that the patient had a prosthetic valve!
After returning from London we used to have lunch in the Senior Common in the faculty together with Professors, Kottegoda, Lionel, Carlo, Kodagoda, Bull Seneviratne, Priyani and Ananda Soysa, Colvin Gooneratne, Nesaraja,Wijaya Dissanaike etc. We were served rice only three days of the week and bathala, manioc or string hoppers on the other days! It costed Rs1.50 only!
Later I used to buy the Sunday Island paper regularly to read his column which I thoroughly enjoyed . When he was the Dean at Kelaniya he invited me to be on the selection panel, which I accepted. When I came to know later that only senior lecturers and lecturers posts had been advertised (withot the professors), I declined because I was of the view tahat a professor should be appointed first and he or she should select the rest of the team.. Carlo panicked and sent Janaka de Silva as an emissary to change my mind. I was told that there were applicants from abroad who had already arrived. To defuse the situatuation I agreed to participate and select the minimum number (one each), to run the department. Carlo told me that I was a strange person because I had my own way at the interviews and selected whom I wanted! I told him that when he invited me he should have expected me to do so!
After he became head of the SLMC, I think he spoilt his reputation by being biassed against SAITM. About two years ago when Rajitha Senaratne invited me to be the head of the SLMC as Carlo's successor, I readily accepted although my three children were dead against it . I visited Carlo at his residence to seek his opinion and he advised me to listen to my three children and therefore I declined the offer.
Although he was born a Catholic later he was attracted to the Buddhist philosophy and aquired a MPhil degree in Buddhist Philosophy from the University of Kelaniya.
May he attain the supreme bliss of Nirvana!
Sanath
One comment on Sanath Lama's first paragraph in the following comment:
Delete"I first met Carlo in June 1962 when we entered the faculty and we were the first batch that he taught.He taught us nero-physiology and our group had pre-clinicals on Saturday mornings with George Ratnavel. By a happy co-incidence when Carlo lectured to us about Parkinsonism, George R. showed us such a patient ,the following Saturday morning! The very same scenario was repeated for tabes dorsalis, peripheral neuropathy etc.etc."
I agree that we were among the first batch of Prof. Carlo's students, but Sanath seems to have got his timings wrong. We started Pre-clinicals only in our third year (1964). So, it is more likely that Sanath met Prof. Carlo in 1964 and not in June 1962. Of course, there is a possibility that Sanath had met him unofficially or socially in June 1962.
On another topic, Upali Walgama of our senior batch (with whom we communicate daily in a private e-mail forum), claims that he was in Prof. Carlo's first batch of students. I didn't agree.
Lucky,I am sure you or Lama can verify the exact month and the year,Carlo assumed duties as a lecturer in Physiology,by going through the archives.
DeleteSumathi
Carlo Fonseka was one of the finest lecturers of our time in medical school. He had an infinitely logical mind and presented his thought in an elegantly logical sequence. This made his lectures easy to understand and remember.
ReplyDeleteHe wrote regularly to the Island newspaper. They were interesting for the fierce debate that was generated. Whether deliberate or not his stance and arguments showed glaring inconsistencies which annoyed some readers. The ferocity of the debates made the "opinion" column compulsive reading. I think he enjoyed it all as we the readers did.
Lucky, we had pre-clinical classes on Saturday mornings, during the last year of our 2nd MBBS course, which would have been in 1963. That was before we started our formal third year clinical appointments in 1964.These are the classes we had with George Ratnavel and surgery classes with Professor C Pde Fonseka. On Saturday mornings we were given the liberty to display our stethescopes for the first time instead of the femur or humerus whilst travelling in buses!
ReplyDeleteSanath
Sorry about that error Sanath. I wish to withdraw that statement. I just checked my yellow coloured "Lectures, classes and appointments book". Yes, you are right. We had the Pre-clinical classes at the end of our second year when we were still "Block" students.
DeleteWhat made me err was your opening statement ""I first met Carlo in June 1962 when we entered the faculty.........". That would have been impossible unless Sanath met Prof. Carlo unofficially.
If indeed Sanath had met our teacher during the time we had Pre-
Clinicals, then it would have been after June 1963 (start of our second year).
You are absolutely right about the years.We entered the faculty in june 1962 and started Pre-clinicals in 1964.Memory losses are acceptable as our brains are loosing some nerve cell,day by day.
ReplyDeleteSumathi,sorry you are wrong!We started the pre-clinicals during the last one or two terms in 1963 and started our clinicals in January 1964
ReplyDeleteSanath
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ReplyDeleteThank you,Lama for correcting the mistake.There periods of memory loss and getting months and years,confused.You have eagle eyes;no wonder you are at the top of the Profession,by overtaking your predecessors.
ReplyDeleteSumathi.
Although my memory of it is rather vague there were pre-clinicals towards the end of our stay in the Block which I didnt attend thinking there is plenty of time for it after the 2nd MB exam which appeared in the horizon like a nightmare.
ReplyDeleteI am reading above, appreciations of Prof Carlo Fonseka by my colleagues all of whom have had experiences that show us what a fantastic human being he was. I would like to add my own few words to say that there were many a time when I ran into problems during my first two years at the college and each time, Prof Carlo was a good friend, a wonderful teacher and excellent human being in sorting out the problem.
ReplyDeleteI salute his memory! Zita
Prof Carlo had a very high regard for late Prof Rajasuriya.Are there any of the readers aware of it?.I,know a lot of Medical students hated his eccentric manners.
ReplyDeleteSumathipala
ReplyDeleteI’m not aware of it. I know both Carlo and Rajasuriya had their critics. It is true of the saying no ones perfect. I wrote about Rajasuriya on this blog hopefully a balanced account. We will remember the good as they both were fine teachers.