Some of the teachers I feared and respected in the BLOCK

 Some of the teachers I feared and respected in the BLOCK

Nihal D Amarasekera. August 2021

With over a year of Covid restrictions, I was battered but not broken. This total incarceration made me go through a portal into a different universe. There is so much time to ponder in this alternative space than the one I’ve left behind. My world of painting brings peace to my soul while the real world suffers the indignities of being watched and being counted with our freedoms stolen. Amidst this chaos, our fragile lives teeter on the brink.

Opened in 1913, the anatomy block has a special place in my memory as a seat of learning.   On my occasional journeys to the past I recall with great admiration the teachers who taught me. It certainly does evoke a wide-eyed hope and longing to return to the past even briefly to remember the people who were in our lives then. With all that glitz and the glamour of being a medical student in the 1960’s it was in the BLOCK where it all began. Although there are moments that live with me, I left the place with more relief than regret. I have often wondered about the origin of the term BLOCK or has it gone adrift in the fog of time? Common sense tells me it is possibly derived from the Anatomy Block but we seem to include physiology too which is not in the block. 

As I’ve made my excuses before, these portraits are drawn mostly from ancient and grainy black and white photos on the internet. Adding colour to them makes it that much harder to get the tones right. As you would of Prof Waas the photo is of a younger man than we knew.

Prof F.L.W Jayawardene

FLWJ was a fine product of Royal College Colombo. He was the Senior Lecturer when we were in the Block and became its Professor from 1968-75. He cuts a relaxed figure and was then known as Dr Lester Jayawadene. What I recall most of all is his extraordinary polished presence. He was the quintessential Englishman, dignified and courteous who treated the students with respect. Dr FLWJ was a wonderful teacher who was more interested in teaching us the basic anatomy than the small print. His masterful lectures on the anatomy of the middle and inner ear and the difficult 3-D concepts of embryology were all-time classics. Although he expected high standards and stood no nonsense Dr FLWJ was always kind and charming and put us at ease at the signatures and revisals. He did get the best out of us. Dr FLWJ arrived every morning in his black Peugeot 403, which was like a Rolls Royce, in those days of import restrictions.  He was one of the few on the teaching staff who was vehemently against the student rag which we recognise now as a curse that gave a free ride to psychopaths. I hold him in high esteem and remember Prof. F.L.W Jayawardene with great affection. May he find eternal peace. 

Prof S.S Panditharatne

He had his early education at Ananda College and qualified MBBS in 1959. After obtaining his PhD from Manchester in 1967 he returned to the department of Anatomy. SSP became the Professor in 1976 and remained so for 22 years. Due to the passage of years I do not recall much about him except he loved the minutiae in anatomy. We were a petrified motley group seated around him at his signatures. When we didn’t know the answers we visibly squirmed in our seats. Once SSP asked a hapless student how wide is the common bile duct and he showed with his thumb and index finger saying “this much”.  SSP blew a fuse. S.S.P was a chain smoker and enjoyed a fag during the tough questioning. He was a brilliant anatomist. As a lecturer during our time in the Block he was thorough and taught us well. It is my impression that he was rather strict and preferred to maintain a healthy distance from the students. I remember once he was informed that one of our batchmates had taken a person who was not a medical student into the dissecting rooms. He was livid.  SSP told us, in no uncertain terms, that it was sacrilege to entertain non-medics in the dissecting rooms. He stressed we must preserve the sanctity and the intrigue of the place while respecting the dead. The advice was well taken. I thank him for his years of excellent service to several generations of medical students. His brand of detailed anatomy helped me enormously in my years in Radiology. The Anatomy Museum in the Colombo faculty is named after Prof Panditharatne for his long years of dedication to anatomy and service to the faculty. He passed away in 2005. May he find the Ultimate Bliss of Nirvana. 

Prof A.C.E Koch

He was educated at Royal College Colombo. Prof. Arthur Cecil Elsley Koch was the first Ceylonese Professor of Physiology. He was appointed to the Chair in Physiology in 1952 and held this post until his retirement in 1968. There is now an annual oration in his memory to remember his contribution to the life of the faculty. He was a kind Tutor in that repressive environment of medical education of the 1960’s. I still remember his regal entrance to the lecture theatre every morning. His lectures went way above my head but that is perhaps personal. There are many who consider him a great teacher. What has stuck with me over the years has been his introduction to the concept of 'milieu intérieur' and Claude Bernard. Overnight my friend Bernard Randeniya came to be called Claude Bernard forevermore until his untimely demise in 2004. Prof Koch had a wonderful sense of humour and the jokes received a stamping on the wooden floor, which he duly acknowledged. His treatment of students gave us confidence. It was inspiring and empowering and dispelled our insecurities.  What has stuck in my mind is his association with Sir Roger Bannister and his ‘4 minute’ mile during his stint at Oxford University which he elaborated with great pride and illustrated the events with some fine photographs. He made physiology a friendly phenomenon for which he will be fondly remembered. Prof Koch sadly was unable to enjoy a long retirement which he richly deserved and passed away in 1969. May his Soul Rest in Peace.  

Prof Carlo Fonseka

He had his schooling at Maris Stella College Negombo and St Joseph’s College Colombo. During our time in the faculty he was a Senior Lecturer and was the Professor of physiology from 1982-89. He was an entertaining speaker, a fine teacher and had the wonderful ability to make physiology logical and interesting. Throughout our student days he remained a friendly face and helpful to all.  The Prof remained a mentor and a confidante to many. I consider him one of the best teachers we’ve had. Prof Carlo was an active member of the LSSP and also in the Rationalist Movement. He gained an even bigger profile with his stance on firewalking that received critical acclaim. This demonstrated his obsession with rationalism and the truth, disproving the accepted wisdom. Artfully argumentative, he was a regular combative writer to the national newspapers. His excursions into the news media received a mixed reception.  Sometimes his views were inconsistent with his political leanings and long-held beliefs. Prof Carlo and I have disagreed openly in the newspapers about the way private practice is carried out in Sri Lanka, way back in the 1980’s. He found no fault in the way private practice was conducted and supervised quite in contrast to the public perception and opinion. This was a fateful moment for socialism. It is true only a small minority of medical specialists reneged on their responsibilities. Professional loyalties can get in the way of the rights of patients. As for me, the hurt was closer to home as the patient in question was my father. Although the exchanges were frosty this in no way diminishes the high esteem and regard I have for him. Disagreement is healthy as long as it doesn't lead to blows!! In Sri Lanka, he remained a celebrity feted and feasted by many. Prof Carlo Fonseka had a long and honourable life of wonderful service to humanity.  May he find eternal peace. 

Prof A.A Hoover

In 1941 Dr A A Hoover was elected the first Secretary of the Chemical Society of Ceylon and the President of the Institute of Chemistry in 1949. He was appointed Professor of Biochemistry at the Faculty of Medicine in Colombo in 1958. Prof Hoover was the most unassuming Professor of our time. Short and gently spoken, he could be mistaken for a softie, but he had considerable steel. He had no airs, only graces. His lectures were delivered with meticulous precision but with great gentleness. Biochemistry was not a subject that generated enormous passion but we had to get through. Much of it has now gone down the pan except the headlines – Krebs Cycle and the essential amino acids!! Our text, Bell, Davidson and Scarborough was a great door stopper. His son was in my class at school. He was an isotope of the father, gentle, generous and soft-spoken. He proceeded to an honours degree in chemistry. In 1978 Prof Hoover became the first Dean of the Faculty of Medicine in Jaffna and also the Head of its Department of Biochemistry. Many remember the amiable Prof Hoover with great passion and esteem. May his Soul Rest in Peace. 

 

Prof M.J Waas

After schooling at St Joseph’s College Colombo he qualified LMS in 1940 and joined the Dept of Anatomy in 1946. He obtained his PhD from the University of Manchester in 1951 and was the Prof of Anatomy at the Faculty of Medicine in Colombo 1960-67. Although anatomy is a broad subject with an extensive syllabus he had a light-hearted attitude to teaching the subject. My abiding memory of the Prof is being in the amphitheatre of the old anatomy lecture theatre listening to his superb delivery lavished with hilarious anecdotes. He was such a colourful character. Many remember him for his own brand of humour and mischievous fun. He is often rightly described as a lovable person. Prof Waas was indeed a breath of fresh air in that rather toxic environment. Like many medics of my era I associate him with that famous joke – He asked at an examination “what goes through the foramen magnum” and Jegasothy replied –“food, Sir”. Prof Waas then quipped “in your case it must be gallons and gallons of booze”.  Fact or fiction this has entered the folklore of our great institution.

May his Soul Rest in Peace.

NOTE by Speedy: All drawings are by Nihal D Amarasekera