I am posting this very informative and entertaining article by Lucky, which was published in the Sunday Times on July 22nd, 2007. It is one of the best and most comprehensive articles about Batch62.
The medics
who’ve done it all!
Batch of 1962 – On completing forty
years as doctors
By Dr. Lakshman Abeyagunawardene, South
Carolina, USA.
1962 was a significant year in the history
of medical education in Sri Lanka. The second Medical Faculty (after the
Colombo Medical Faculty set up 137 years ago) of the University of Ceylon was
established in Peradeniya. Since then, Medical Faculties have sprung up in
Ruhuna, Jaffna, Kelaniya and Sri Jayewardenepura. I am told there is one in
Rajarata as well! Just like the debate on which school is the best of them all,
it still rages on with regard to which medical school is the best of them all.
My more serious intention here in this
article is to give a pen-sketch of a batch of students who gained admission to
the prestigious Colombo medical school in June, 1962. Having graduated in 1967,
this batch will be completing 40 years this year as western qualified
(allopathic) medical doctors. Perhaps, a better title for this article would
have been - "Colombo Medical Students of the 1962-67 era – where are they
now?
Being a large batch of over 150 students,
it is well nigh impossible to mention the names of all my batch mates in this
article. Therefore, let me at the outset, extend my humble apologies to those
whose names I have failed to mention here. Yet, I must emphatically state that
at least in my mind, each and every member of that great batch of 1962,
wherever he or she might be, is held in the highest esteem.
Our teachers
Before talking about the
"Golayas", it is nothing but right that I pen a few lines about our
"Gurus" first. We learned the finer art of healing the sick under the
healing hands of such eminent teachers as Professors O.E.R. Abhayaratne (fondly
called “Pachaya"), A.C.E. Koch, M.J. Waas, A.A. Hoover, S.R. Kottegoda,
G.H. Cooray, H.V.J. Fernando, A.D. Chapman, A. S. Dissanaike, K. Rajasuriya, D.
A. Ranasinghe, Milroy Paul, R. A. Navaratne, C. C de Silva, Priyani Soysa ably
assisted by N. D. W. Lionel, Valentine Basnayake, Carlo Fonseka, Lester
Jayawardene, Sobitha Pandithratne, Daphne Attygalle, Mrs. Yoganathan, , W. J.
Gomes, Nandadasa Kodagoda, Earle de Fonseka, A. Sinnethamby, T. Visvanathan,
M.C. Karunairatnam and Oliver Peiris.
We “clerked” under the giant clinicians of
the day like P. R. Anthonis, L. D. C. Austin, D. F de S. Gunawardene, Misso,
Niles, K.G. Jayasekara, Noel Bartholomeuz, E. C. J. Rustomjee, D. J. Attygalle,
R. P. Jayewardene, W.Wijenaike, Oliver Medonza, R. S. Thanabalasunderam, Ernie
Peiris, Stella de Silva, Stanley de Silva, Hamza, Hunt, E. H. Mirando, P. R.
Walpita, G. N. Perera, the two Rasanayagams (ENT “Rasa” and Orthopaedic
“Rasa”), Arulpragasam, Francis Silva, Rienzie Peiris, Deva Adithya, Sri
Skandarajah, Thamber, Pararajasegaram, Sivasubramaniam, Lucas, Ponnambalam,
Shelton Cabraal, Darrel Weinman, J. R. Wilson, and so on. Only a handful of
them are living today. But their dedication to teaching and memories of all the
long hours they spent with medical students and patients in the wards will
always be remembered.
Departed colleagues
In naming the batch mates, I wish to start
with those nine colleagues who departed this world at a relatively early age.
Sunil (SR) de Silva, my dear friend and billiards partner in the men’s common
room, was the son of former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ceylon Walwin
A. de Silva, and brother of well known journalist Manik de Silva. “Sunna” who
worked for the US Air Force as a surgeon was tragically killed in Florida when
his car was hit by a drunk driver.
The doctor couple Russel Paul and Dawne de
Silva, together with their two children died under very tragic circumstances in
Pennsylvania. Karalapillai Sundarampillai who had his medical practice in
Kotahena also met with his death in bizarre fashion when a flying galvanized
roofing sheet hit him during a heavy thunderstorm. Former Royal College
cricketer Kiththa Wimalaratne drowned in his own backyard swimming pool.
Bernard Randeniya was the Director of the
Cancer Institute at Maharagama at the time of his death. One of the most
distinguished of the lot was Professor Niriellage Chandrasiri who was Vice
Chancellor of the Ruhuna University and Professor in Forensic Medicine at the
Ruhuna Medical Faculty. More recently, Tudor Wickramarachchi and “Bobby”
Somasundaram died in the United Kingdom where they were practising.
Mass exodus
With the problem of unemployment looming at
the time we graduated, the sixties and seventies saw a massive exodus of
doctors from Sri Lanka to other countries. My batch was one of the worst
affected. The majority of those who emigrated settled down in the US, while others went to the UK, Australia and New Zealand. The few who opted to remain
in their homeland however, shone in their chosen specialties.
In Lanka
Sanath Lamabadusuriya who topped the batch
in the final examination of March 1967 is today a well-known Paediatrician
having held office as Dean of the Colombo Medical Faculty and Professor in
Paediatrics. He was awarded the MBE by Queen Elizabeth II in 1991, in
recognition of his contribution to the Sri Lankan cleft lip and palate project
of which he was a co-director together with Dr. Michael Mars – a rare honour
for a Sri Lankan based in Sri Lanka.
R. S. Jayatilake was the first fully
qualified Oncologist in Sri Lanka. R. S. (Revo) Drahaman is a much sought after
Otolaryngologist (ENT Surgeon), M. H. S. Cassim (“Cassa”), Chirasri
Mallawarachchi (Jayaweera Bandara), Zita Perera (Subasinghe) and J. G.
Wijetunga are Ophthalmologists. P. L. (Lucian ) Perera is a General Surgeon.
Nithya Jayawickrama specialised in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Lalantha
Amarasinghe specialised in cosmetic surgery and was in charge of the Burns Unit
in the General Hospital. Suriyakanthi Karunaratne (Amerasekara) is Senior
Consultant Anaesthesiologist at the Sri Jayewardenepura Hospital, and a Past
President of the Sri Lanka Medical Association. Victor Rajapaksa and W.
Rajasooriar are also in the same speciality. Puwan Ramalingam (Sivananthan) is
a Rheumatologist. Chanaka Wijesekara is an Orthopaedic Surgeon.
Among the academics are Manel
Ratnavibhushana (Wijesundara) who is Professor in Parasitology at the
Peradeniya Medical Faculty and Lalani Seebert (Rajapaksa) who is Associate
Professor in Community Medicine at the Colombo Medical Faculty. One time champion
public schools athlete J. C. Fernando who excelled in the 440 yards event, is a
General Practitioner who has maintained his youthful looks and athletic figure
to this day. He is married to Surangani Abeysuriya (Fernando) who was also in
our batch.
H. N. Wickramasinghe, Ranjit
Bulathsinghala, Tilak Dayaratne, V. Ganeshan, Ananda Hettiarachchi, Roshnara de
Zoysa (Gunaratne) are General Practitioners in different parts of Sri Lanka.
Chitra Morawaka Wijewardene (Weeratunga) retired as the Chief Medical Officer
of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority.
Among the General Physicians, Harsha
Samarajeewa is one of the few in the batch (like Nithya Jayawickrama) who
decided to return home after specialisation and a long stint abroad. Other
General Physicians produced by the batch and presently in Sri Lanka include
Chandra Silva and Kusuma Jayasuriya (Ruberu). The latter being the sister of
the famous Olympic boxers HP and CP, the boys never tried their usual pranks on
her!
Community physicians
Of the few in the 1962 batch who opted to
remain and serve our motherland for a long period, as many as four chose the
less glamorous and less lucrative field of Public Health for specialisation.
These Community Physicians went into different sub specialities. Punsiri
Fernando is a Malariologist who rose to be Director of the Anti Malaria
Campaign. Wimal Soysa (Jayakuru) created history as Sri Lanka’s first woman
Chief Epidemiologist. S. A. P. Gnanissara was a Medical Administrator who
retired a few years ago as Deputy Director General of Health Services (Training
and Research) in the Ministry of Health.
The author of this article was among the
first (and also the last) five Sri Lankan medical doctors to be sent to the
United States in 1974 on WHO Fellowships to specialise in Health Education.
Although the writer himself is presently employed by the state government in
South Carolina, USA, he has worked for 33 years in Sri Lanka and other
developing countries, first with Sri Lanka’s Health Ministry and later in UN
organizations (WHO and UNICEF).
Ranjith Kuruppu started out as a Community
Physician (MOH) but went into private practice as a Family Physician later on.
Though based in London for most part of her career, Pramilla Kannangara
(Senanayake) fits in here as a distinguished Public Health Physician who
continues to raise funds and runs a project to educate poor children in the
fishing villages of southern Sri Lanka. As the Assistant Director General of
the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) she had responsibility
not only for medical programmes but also for IPPF’s AIDS, Safe Motherhood and
Youth and Adolescent Programmes. She was awarded an honorary FACOG in 2006 for
her work in Family Planning. Sriyani Dissanayake (Basnayake) who has made a
name for herself as Sri Lanka’s leading sex educator, was the Medical Director
of the Family Planning Association of Sri Lanka. Engaged in the same field of
family planning is Priya Gunaratne (De Silva).
Well-known names
It is also interesting to note that two
females in the batch acquired surnames that are more familiar to Sri Lankans
than their own maiden names. I refer here to Vasantha Owitigala (Jayasuriya)
whose husband is none other than the Minister of Public Administration and Home
Affairs in the present government. Swyrie Jayasekara (Balendra) married one of
Sri Lanka’s most successful businessmen and former Chairman of John Keells, Ken
Balendra.
US bound
When Sri Lankan doctors migrated to the
United States in droves in the late sixties and early seventies, one particular
hospital in Coney Island, New York had so many Sri Lankans working there that
it was almost like walking along the corridors of the General Hospital in
Colombo. Most of them have since then moved out into other states.
We had many outstanding sportsmen in our
batch. Lareef Idroos was Sri Lanka’s ace spin bowler who played for S. Thomas’
College, Mount Lavinia (as captain), SSC and University of Ceylon and also
represented the country with distinction before we gained test status. Lareef
who is a Nephrologist is now domiciled in California along with former
Benedictine cricketer Cyril Ernest (Cardiologist) who also played for the
University and represented All-Ceylon. Lareef and Cyril had the unique
distinction of representing two countries in cricket at the highest level when
both of them were selected to represent USA. Additionally, Cyril played in the
USA team that participated in the World Cup in 1982.
With such a large community of Sri Lankans
in California, one would expect many of the batch to be settled there. Apart
from those mentioned earlier, Nalin Nanayakkara (Obstetrician and
Gynaecologist), Piyaseeli Dolawatte (De Silva), R. Wickramasekaran (Cardiologist),
R. Nadarajah (Surgeon), M.Z. Lameer (Orthopaedist), P. (Pupa) Sivananda,
Chittamparanathan Thiagarajah (Anaesthesiologist) are some of the others in
California. Desmond Gunatilaka is a Pulmanologist and critical care specialist
in San Jose.
N. Visveshwara who is a Neonatologist in
Fresno, California, is credited with the invention of an innovative catheter
that relates to cardiac output and matching of ventilation/perfusion in
newborns. He has also designed a pediatric ventilator and donated one through
his Rotary Club to the Neonatal Unit of Sri Lanka's Castle Street Hospital for
Women. Anton Ambrose who is a resident in Los Angeles, lost his beloved wife
Beulah and daughter Orlantha in the 2004 tsunami while on holiday in Sri Lanka.
Orlantha was a trained classical violinist and was actively engaged in teaching
music to poor rural children in Sri Lanka at the time of her tragic death.
Sidath Jayanetti who played Rugby for Royal
and the University, is now an Obstetrician and Gynaecologist in Virginia.Of all
my batch mates based in the US, my closest “neighbours” are Lucky Weerasuriya
and A. Satchithananda, both of whom now lead a quiet life in retirement in
Florida. Bandula Jayasekara is still in active practice as a Psychiatrist in
Kentucky. Malkanthi Wijesuriya is in the same state working in infectious
diseases. So is K.L.M.T. (Mahasen) de Silva (Psychiatrist). S. Sarvanandan
(Psychiatrist) in Michigan, Ananda de Silva in Missouri, Sisira Ranasinghe
(Pathologist) in Ohio, Eugene Anandappa (Paediatric Radiologist) and Bertram
Nanayakkara (Paediatrician) in Illinois, Sriyani (“Bunter”) Fernando and Navam
Chinniah in Connecticut, T. Yoganathan and Mahesan Richards (both
Anaesthesiologists) and S. Sri Kantha (Pain Specialist) in New Jersey, Indra
Anandasabapathy (Associate Director of Anaesthesiology at Staten Island
University Hospital) and S. Sathanandan in New York, C. Maheswaran (Obstetrician
and Gynaecologist) also in Florida, are the others in the northern and eastern
parts of the US. L.W. Perera, S. Balachandran (“Yankee Bala”) and Ranjan
Hulugalle (Oncologist) are also in the US. Sujatha Maligaspe (Lena) is in
Canada.
In UK
Relatively few have chosen England as their
adopted country. Among names that come to my mind are Suren Iyer, Sunil
Abeysuriya, Nihal Amerasekara (Radiologist), K. Balachandra (“Con Bala”), S.
Sri Kantha, Nihal Goonetilake, B.L. Perera, A.H.T. Sumathipala, D.S.C. Attale
(Psychiatrist), Douglas Mulgirigama, Ranjith Kariyawasam, Razaque Ahamath,
Harischandra Boralessa, Mahendra Gonsalkorala, Ranjith Dambawinne, P. V. D.
Saparamadu, Anandan Jayaratnam, N. Balakumar, M. Viswanathan, A. F. Doss, S.
Vedavanam, L. P. J. M. Wickramasinghe, Jimmy Wickramasinghe, Manel
Hettiarachchi (Katugampola), Asoka (“Lubber”) Wijekoon and S. R. Batuwitage. V.
Kunasingham who was an outstanding soccer player took to Hockey during his
University days and went on to represent All-Ceylon as the goal keeper. Rohini
Abhayaratne who is also in UK, is the daughter of the Medical Faculty Dean of
that era. Another “Batch Couple”, Upali Wijeratne and wife Padmini Karunanayake
are also there. One of Sri Lanka’s leading tennis players of a bygone era
Ranjan Wattegedera is also settled in UK.
Australia and New Zealand
Australia has had her fair share from the
batch. Kumar Gunawardene (Cardiologist) was recently honoured by the American
College of Cardiologists. Lakshman Jayasinghe who started out as a
Neuroradiologist now practises in neuroradiology, interventional radiology and
nuclear medicine. Sanath de Tissera (Psychiatrist), Easwaran Kanapathipillai,
Irwin Herath, Cecil Saverimuttu, Kamini Goonewardene (Ferdinando) and General
Physician Kamala Nimalasuria (De Silva) are among the others “Down Under”.
Virginia Swan (De Vos) who was an outstanding swimmer as a teenager is also in
Australia. Malik Jaimon, Mahendra Collure, M. Rasanathan and Nisha
Mallawarachchi (Jayasinghe) are in New Zealand.
Perhaps as the father of a more famous son,
Rajan (“Patas”) Ratnesar deserves special mention. Son Romesh Ratnesar is today
an internationally known journalist who is a regular contributor to “Time”
magazine. “Patas” is Medical Director of a major California Hospital.
Fun and frolic
Our batch was somewhat unique in that we
were subjected to a second rag (in addition to the traditional “Freshers’ Rag”
during the first fortnight) by our seniors when we were well into our second
year in medical school. As if that punishment was not enough, almost all the
males in the batch were suspended for two weeks and fined ten rupees by the
university’s Board of Residence and Discipline. That was the time when Vice
Chancellor Sir Nicholas Attygalle managed university affairs with an iron fist.
What was the offence, one might ask.
Traditionally, it is the most junior medical students who play a prominent role
with their “high spirited” fun and frolic during the annual Law-Medical cricket
match, while the seniors sit and enjoy in the comfort of the pavilion. When the
Law and Medical Colleges met in their encounter in 1963, the juniors dressed in
black shirts with the skull and cross bones emblem, paraded the streets of
Colombo in an open truck as usual. However, they somewhat exceeded the limits
when invading the pitch and disrupting play in the Royal-Trinity inter-school
cricket match that was being played at Reid Avenue.
That was not all. The boys also “visited”
Castle Street Girls School at Borella (present Devi Balika Vidyalaya) and
“entertained” the schoolgirls who I am sure enjoyed the proceedings as much as
the boys did. As expected, a flood of complaints followed. After a long drawn
out inquiry, punishment was meted out to those found guilty. The boys accepting
“collective responsibility” and not resorting to finger pointing at those who
may have “misbehaved”, avoided probable expulsion of a few students. Punishment
was therefore relatively mild.
The author of this article described in
more detail the whole incident in an article entitled “Law Medical ’63 and
After” published in the journal of the Medical Students Union in 1963. Was it a
particularly mischievous batch? Yes and No. But then we were all 44 years
younger! E-mail: abeyagln@dhec.sc.gov
