Professor C. C. de Silva
Appreciation on his 119th Birth Anniversary
By Professor Sanath P. Lamabadusuriya MBE
He studied initially at Bishops College and later at St. Thomas College Mt. Lavinia. After studying medicine for one year in Ceylon, he continued his medical studies at the University College London. Initially, he practised as a General Practitioner in Dehiwela and was appointed the first Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Ceylon in 1949. He was the second Paediatrician to be appointed to the Lady Ridgeway Hospital, Colombo, the first being Dr L. O. Abeyratne. He was also the first Professor of Paediatrics in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya.
He was the Founder Chairman of Durdans Hospital, Colombo. In 1961, he was the President General of the Ceylon Association for the Advancement of Science. He was also closely associated with the activities of the Family Planning Association of Sri Lanka from its inception. He chaired the National Committee of the Freedom from Hunger Campaign and the Meals for Millions Campaign Foundation of Ceylon. He was also the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Christian Missionary Schools, which included Ladies College, Trinity and Mowbray in Kandy and Chudikuli Girls School and St John’s College in Jaffna. He used to visit these schools regularly. In 1951, he was associated with establishing the Children’s Convalescent Home in Thalagolla and later functioned as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees. The writer happens to be its current Chairman.
The first book he published was titled “Mother, Your Baby” in collaboration with Mrs Visvanathan, which was meant for young parents. When we clerked under him at the Lady Ridgeway Hospital in the mid-1960s, all of us were compelled to purchase a copy of his book, priced at Rs. 4.50.He travelled extensively during his academic career and published a book titled “Out Steppes A Don”, after a visit to Russia. His autobiography, “Life as I Lived It”, was published in 1987, and its first copy was presented to him by his daughter Mrs Ilika Karunaratne, the night before he died on the 20th of May 1987. A few weeks before he died, he asked me whether I could give him a lift for the annual dinner of the Sri Lanka Paediatric Association. I visited his residence Ellora, in Green Path, Colombo 7, together with my late wife Buddhika; he shared a drink of brandy with me before leaving his residence to travel for the dinner. Sadly, he passed away a few weeks later. That happens to be the lasting memory I have of this remarkable personality!
May he Rest In Peace!
Professor Sanath P. Lamabadusuriya
MBE
Emeritus Professor of
Paediatrics
University of Colombo
Note: His full name was Percival Cholmondeley Chalmers de Silva
Thank you Lama for your lovely article about Prof C C de Silva. It brought back so memories of his colorful personality. I remember being rather awed by him on the first day of our appointment but he was so captivating we soon learned to add affection to our awe !
ReplyDeleteOne of his profound statements that I remember clearly to this day is " An undressed baby is a well dressed baby !"He did not approve of the Sri Lankan habit of wrapping the baby in layers and layers of clothing ! ( Specially if they were febrile ! . )
I remember following the very down to earth and practical advice given in his book Mother your Baby when I was caring for my first baby. ( who incidentally had febrile convulsions)
We were indeed very fortunate to have had such amazing teachers. May he Rest in Peace and Rise in Glory.
Suri Amarasekera
Sanath
ReplyDeleteThank you for the beautiful tribute for a legend of our time. Despite his privileged upbringing he had the wonderful ability to connect with the students and the senior doctors who formed his retinue wherever he went. We saw him towards the end of his remarkable and distinguished career. As I recall he had a tremendous presence and was gentle and compassionate towards the young ones in his care and their parents. He received adulation and respect from everyone.
We were ever so fortunate to have been taught by such a fine teacher. He had the exceptional ability to teach us the basics well. Prof C.C de Silva gave of his best to the medical profession and the country and will be forever remembered as one of the early pioneers of paediatrics in Sri Lanka together with Prof. L.O Abeyratne.
“His name liveth forevermore”
Does anyone of you have LIFE AS I LIVED IT written by Prof Silva
ReplyDeleteI have a copy at home
ReplyDeleteI'm eagerly waiting to read it. Plz let me know if it is possible, I'll return as it was
DeleteSPL
ReplyDeleteThis is from a post in 2015 when I recalled my teachers. I had this recollection of Prof CC. "In Paediatrics, I vaguely recall Prof CC de Silva. His presence was noted mostly by his absence. He seemed to be away most of the time and was typical of some Academics who are “rarely seen or heard in their own territories”. When he spoke, we wondered whether he was an European, such was his accent. He also had this habit which some have of tailing away his voice towards the end of a sentence. He would for example say, “When you consider diarrhoea in infants, we must never forget important cause such as Aaaaa…………”. (I am adding today, David Cameron, ex UK PM , has the same habit). As the last words were almost whispered and gobbled, we were left in the dark. We were also very aware of his reputation and International stature,
ReplyDeleteHere is anorher snippet from Blog archives, this time in my 2018 Speedcy interview of Sanath- "Our final year Professorial appointments were rather strenuous. On the first day of the Paediatric appointment, Professor CC de Silva, conducted a class on infant feeding and wheeled in a trolley full of empty milk cans! (How things have changed over the years with emphasis on breast feeding!"
Thank you Mahendra for posting my paper article regarding Prof.CC de Silva. It appeared in the Daily Mirror paper of the 18th of February 2023 and in the Sunday Island of the 19th of February 2023. It would also appear in the daily Island paper of Saturday the 24th of February, which is his 119th birth anniversary.
ReplyDeleteNihal, Dr. L O Abeyratne was not a professor. He was the father of Brighty de Mel, the former nutritionist, based at the MRI. She was responsible for formulating Thriposha as a nutritional supplement for undernourished children in the mid 1970s.;it is still a popular nutritional supplement, distributed free of charge by the government.
His son, Michael Abeyratne was an excellent paediatric surgeon married to Kamalika Wickramasuriya, who was a paediatrician as well. Kamalika's father was Professor George Wickramasuriya, the first Ceylonese Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, who passed away before he assumed duties. He happens to be an uncle of my mother and he had delivered me on the 30th of December 1942, in Ward 3, DMH. He became world famous by documenting the passage of the malarial parasite from the mother to the fetus, in the 1930s. His research was carried out in Ward 3 DMH. His family offered a prize ,in his name for research in Obstetrics and Paediatrics in 1975 and I was the first winner of that prize.
CC de Silva was the first Professor of Paediatrics from 1949 to 1966, followed by Priyani Soysa from 1966 to 1991 and myself from 1991 to 2008.
Sanath
DeleteThank you for the correction. Dr L.O Abeyratne treated me for recurrent attacks of tonsillitis I had as a child. I remember him as a kindly gentleman. He finally suggested tonsillectomy which was said to be hazardous surgery for a 7 year old. I remember being in a children's surgical ward at the GHC. I have written about my experieces in the Island newspaper as well as this Blog
https://colombomedgrads1962.blogspot.com/search?q=tryst+with+destiny
Who is SR, who wants the book”Life as I lived it”?
DeletePlease contact me on 0777 886119
Sanath
I am guessing it is Suramya Karunaratne who is a follower of our Blog.
DeleteCongratulations Sanath for a moving tribute to Prof CC. I will post separately my recollections of this great man.
ReplyDeleteI was intrigued by Mahen’s comment of him being a Professor in absentia. It reminded me of an Oxford Don Peter Sleight who was termed by his students the British Airways professor. He was co-founder of the notable ISIS clinical trials ( International study of Infarct Survival)
The name was apparently inspired by the river Isis which flows through Oxford.
The Townsville Hospital was one of the first Australian participants and we thus got to know him and his brilliant collaborators Salim Yusuf, Rory Collins and Richard Peto. They all went onto become distinguished academics; RC and RP were knighted and also became FRS for their excellence in science. SY is the chairman of cardiovascular diseases in McMaster University Canada.
Rory sometimes extended his stay in Townsville as one of his Oxford medical school colleagues was working in Townsville.
Of the four ISIS trials the best known is ISIS 2 which conclusively proved the benefit of thrombolytics and aspirin in acute myocardial infarction.This prompted me to join other international multiicentre clinical trials; a perk being visits to exotic cities where the findings and conclusions were presented.
Kumar
KUMAR COMMENTS
ReplyDeleteProf CC was our first family doctor. He and his colleague Dr A.M.Fernando had a busy practice in Dehiwala bordering Galle Rd . We saw more of CC as my brother who had a bowel problem was a patient of his. He would do home visits and reinforce the strict dietary regime he had prescribed. Any deviations aroused his ire but mostly he was genial and caring. My father and he developed a good rapport as they were close to each other in age and disposition. When he moved onto the Medical School we switched onto AMF.
I next met him at his opulent home. In my early teens I was not gaining weight and he obliged my father by seeing us. We were the only visitors; he had probably given up private practice. A thorough examination from head to toe was done and I was given a clean bill of health. I experienced at first hand how a good physician functions.
My next encounter was during the professorial paediatric term. Although we held him in awe there were fun times too. We had two overseas students doing an elective with him; both were typical Aussies tall , bronzed and good looking. One day he made them sing Waltzing Matilda; we had to reciprocate by singing popular Sinhala songs.
Many years later his daughter Ilica did a feature article on Kanthi and me for the glossy ‘In Vogue ‘magazine. She was thrilled when I mentioned all the above, and her write up was very laudatory.
The following particulars are from my friend Gamini Jayasinghe an eminent neurologist in QLD. GJ had visited Prof to get a reference to obtain a job in UK. He was advised to go to Australia instead as that was the country of the future; CC had contacted the chief of paediatrics at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and he got a job within a week. This was the beginning of a stellar career.
GJ also said that he had an open mind about alternative systems of medicine and was not averse to seeing Ayurvedic practitioners himself.
CC was indeed a special human being and and an exceptional clinician and teacher.
Sanath, thank you for this write up about Prof. CC. Kumar, thank you for your anecdotes about him too. I remember him well, but I think he may of been on one of his fabled trips abroad when I did the pediatric professorial rotation, because it was Prof. Priyani Soyza who conducted the ward rounds. She always referred to me as "my teacher's daughter" because my mother had taught her at Princess of Wales College in Moratuwa!
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, Dr. L.O. Abeyratne and his family were our neighbors down 5th Lane, Colombo 3. We lived there until I was about 10 years old, and I think he and his wife, who was also a physician, probably influenced my decision to become a doctor. He had retired from LRH and had a private practice office adjoining his home. They were the kindest, sweetest people and their visiting grandsons were my brothers' playmates during school vacations. I have a recollection of them rushing over to our house when one of my brothers almost electrocuted himself! (My parents were not at home that evening.) They calmed my brother down, checked him out, gave him a few sips of brandy and put him to bed!
Srianee, Thank you very much for your memories. Priyani Soysa succeeded CC de S in mid 1966. Our group was taught by CC. and the other groups, including yours, would have been taught by Priyani.
ReplyDeleteFew years ago, I visited LOA's house down 5th Lane, when Michael and Kamalika Abeyratne were occupying it. I went there to see Kamalika, who was stricken with HIV.
I wonder whether you are aware that Kamalika met with a serious RTA when she was travelling down south to conduct a health camp. She was admitted to the Karapitiya Hospital and Sanath Liyanarachchi saved her life by inserting an intercostal tube and thereby relieving a tension pneumothorax. Later she was airlifted to the Sri Jayawardenepura General Hospital where she got infected with HIV via a contaminated blood transfusion. She went public with her illness although a social stigma was attached to it and fought very hard for the government to provide treatment free of charge for HIV patients. Ultimately she won the battle.
Kamalika's father was Professor George Wickramasuriya, who was the first Ceylonese Professor of Gyn nd Obs, but he died in his 40s before assuming duties. He became world famous when he became the first person in the world to document materno-fetal transmission of the malaria parasite. This research was carried out in Ward 3 DMH. He was an uncle of my mother and he delivered me in that ward on the 30th of December 1942. I happened to be the first winner of the George Wickramasuriya Research Prize for Paediatrics and Gyn and Obs. Professor S S Ratnam, who was a Sri Lankan domiciled in Singapore, won the other component.
I met Prof CC de Silva's son, Dr. Wijitha de Silva this afternoon at the Colombo Swimming Club. He has come on holiday with his Swiss wife. He told me that he is 90 years old and he left Ceylon in 1954.His extended family includes, children, grand children as well as great grand children and all of them are domiciled in Zurich.
ReplyDelete