The Teachers who taught and inspired me

by Dr.Nihal D Amerasekera

‘Education is not the filling of a pot but the lighting of a fire.’ –W.B. Yeats

George Bernard Shaw in his drama “Man and Superman” commented ‘Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach’. His words have since been a consistent irritation to teachers. Long years before G.B Shaw, Aristotle in his wisdom said “Those that know, do. Those that understand, teach”. The Greek philosopher also went on “The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet”. We know that only too well.

As the years pass and memories fade there are some things we will never forget. Entry into the Faculty of Medicine was the culmination of years of preparation and sacrifice. We still had the security of home. Our parents fed and clothed us and paid the bills. We dreamed it was a passport to fame and fortune. There was such a great sense of myopic optimism, we lost ourselves in the adulation. Life always has ways to bring us back to reality!!

It’s been said before, ours was the golden age of medical education in Sri Lanka. I feel greatly privileged to have been taught by some remarkable teachers. I still consider our Professors, lecturers and clinical tutors as some of the best in the world. I marvel at their clinical skills and recoil at their egotistical arrogance. We remember them all with gratitude. We soon learnt to survive and even thrive in that air of toxicity. We tread cautiously and endured the arrogance and conceit in silence in the hope of better times. In reality it wasn’t all bad. Surprisingly I don’t feel resentful. The tough life gave us self-reliance, confidence, grit and determination. I am told, the atmosphere and attitudes have evolved significantly to reflect changes in society. I remember our teachers with much affection and gratitude and thank them for their commitment to teaching.

As the sunset on our student days, there was a new dawn of a career in Medicine. Although we left the faculty, it never really left us. Time ticked on and decades passed swiftly. Many of us have now bade farewell to our professional lives. Here we are on our onward journey recalling memories of a time now long gone.

Prof Milroy Paul

Prof Milroy Paul had the advantage of having medical luminaries in both sides of his family of distinguished academics and public servants. After schooling at Royal College Colombo he went to Ceylon Medical College. After a year he proceeded to Kings College Hospital in London where he was awarded prizes in surgery, orthopaedic surgery, hygiene, psychological medicine and forensic medicine. He qualified MBBS in 1924 and later gained both, the MRCP and the FRCS, a brilliant and rare accomplishment and a badge of his intellectual merit. Subsequently he obtained the MS from London. He was an intellectual who was invited to deliver the Hunterian Oration on three separate occasions at the Royal College of Surgeons in London.

Many from my era and before will recognise Prof Milroy Paul as the Godfather of Surgery in our island. From 1936-1965 he was the founder Professor of Surgery at the Colombo Medical College and the Children’s Hospital. I presume his sharp intuition was an enormous help in his profession as a surgeon before the days of digital scans. He was a man of great presence and striking appearance and his charisma seemed magnetic. I believe as the Professor he was unable to do any private surgery but never did any after retirement although he was popular, widely known and respected. The richness of his career was his priceless gift.

I remember with great fondness and nostalgia his erudite lectures in surgery at the administration block of the faculty. The Prof delivered his lessons with such effortlessness and aplomb without even a scrap of paper to jog his memory. Listening to him, his brilliance was never in doubt. They were lectures in commonsense as much as surgical diagnosis and treatment. He was charismatic and eloquent. His simplicity, modesty and humility stood out. I was saddened to hear that in later years he became blind in both eyes after a tennis injury. It seems he never gave the impression that he was perturbed by ill health. He passed away in 1989. May his Soul Rest in Peace.

Monumentum requiris, circumspice (if you seek his monument, look around)

The service provided by his students is a lasting legacy to show his immense contribution to medical education in Ceylon.

Dr U.S Jayawickrama

I have never felt so emotional doing a portrait as I did with this one of my former boss. He is one of the finest human beings I’ve met in my life and consider working with him a great privilege. He was at Royal College Colombo and entered Medical College in 1949. After the MBBS in 1954 he completed his MRCP and MD in 1963. He was a Consultant Physician at the General Hospital Colombo (GHC) for 18 years. He was also elected President of the Ceylon College of Physicians in 1980.

My final assignment with the GHC was in 1973/74 when I was a Registrar to Dr U.S Jayawickreme. I learnt much more from USJ than clinical medicine. A deeply thoughtful man, he taught us how to connect with our patients.

One such patient was Wimal, a clerk working in a government department. He was around 50 years old. Wimal had a young family and was terminally ill with myeloid leukaemia. I remember speaking with him everyday. I became closer to him than any other patient in the ward. I spoke and joked with him just before I went for my lunch break. On my return the guy in the bed next to Wimal gave me the sad news that he passed away. Wimal had asked him to say thank you and goodbye to me for all the help and friendship. I still remember his friendly face and his soft voice.

USJ took over the ward from Dr W Wijenaike. He was a fine clinician and a dignified unassuming gentleman. Always immaculately dressed he showed tremendous kindness to his patients and to the staff. In turn he received great loyalty and enormous respect. He showed us how to conduct ourselves calmly and with dignity in the ward. His patients adored him. His work ethic and bedside manner had a tremendous impact on me. That was a fine finale for my clinical years at the GHC. In his written reference his generous praise and expression of pride in his (imperfect) registrar meant so much to me.

He passed away at the age of 88.

May he find the ultimate Bliss of Nirvana

Dr R.S Thanabalasundrum

On starting Clinical work at the GHC in 1964 I was immensely fortunate to belong to a generation taught by a plethora of superbly dedicated and gifted teachers. Although they lead busy lives with a thriving private practice they never failed to give their all to the students. I am greatly indebted to all of them for their dedication and commitment. In that firmament of shining stars I would consider Dr Thanabalasundrum as the one that shone the brightest.

My first clinical appointment as a medical student in Colombo was with Dr Thanabalasundrum. Then he was at the zenith of his profession and remained as one of the best teachers of clinical medicine in the country. He was a brilliant professional and a consummate physician. He took teaching seriously and introduced a system and structure into history taking. He brought logic into our clinical methods, diagnosis and treatment. When presenting cases nothing incorrect went past his sharp intellect. He always tested and challenged the student’s narrative. The little book of Clinical Methods by Hutchison and Hunter held more reverence than the bible. His pearls of wisdom filled our notebooks.

Dr Rajadurai Selliah Thanabalasundrum was born in Kokuvil in 1922. His father was a doctor. After a stint in the local primary school he entered Royal College Colombo where he had a glittering academic career. In the Ceylon Medical College he worked diligently to obtain first class honours in all examinations achieving the rare feat of distinctions in Medicine, Surgery and Obstetrics in the Final MBBS in 1946. After obtaining his MD in 1954 and MRCP (Lond) he returned to become the Visiting Physician in Jaffna. He was appointed Consultant Physician to the GHC in 1956. In that same year he was married to Pamathy Sivagnanasundrum. They had two daughters and a son.

After retirement from the GHC he continued with his private practice in Colombo for many years until he became the Professor of Medicine of the North Colombo Medical College in 1985. There he remained until 1995. As Professor he was greatly respected as an exceptional lecturer and good colleague. In recognition of his long years of service to the nation the Government bestowed on him the honour of Deshabandu in 1998.

All through the political upheavals and the grim era of ethnic tensions his love for the country of his birth sustained him and never wavered. He continued to live at Horton Place Colombo-7 until his death in November 2007. His remains were cremated with Hindu rites at the General Cemetery Kanatte. The likes of him are a rarity and irreplaceable in this selfish and egotistical world.

His name will be etched in the Hall of Fame of Medical greats in Sri Lanka to be remembered for all time.

May he find Eternal Peace.

Don Jinadasa Attygalle

He was educated at Royal College Colombo and qualified LMS from the Ceylon Medical College. He was a Visiting Physician at the GHC until his retirement in 1972 when he continued seeing patients privately at his home and in the private hospitals.

Dr Attygalle was a fine physician, a meticulous teacher, and a consultant of the old school with clinical acumen and insight of the first quality. I remember well his ward classes when he taught us the basics of taking a good history, eliciting physical signs and collating the facts to reach a diagnosis. He was softly spoken and treated the houseman, nurses, medical students and other staff with great kindness and respect. Many of Dr Attygalle’s junior medical staff speak of him in glowing terms as an excellent and astute physician and of his conscientious sense of honour. As a Consultant Physician he had a distinguished career that rivalled the best.

Dr Attygalle married Dr Daphne Kanagaratne. She became professor of pathology and dean of the Colombo medical faculty. She predeceased him in 1989. They did not have any children.

He was one of the great physicians of his time admired, loved and respected by his patients and medical colleagues. Through his enthusiasm he inspired many young junior doctors to sustained achievement. A veritable role model for all doctors from all disciplines. Rather reclusive and even enigmatic, he was a very private man away from the GHC. Dr Attygalla was a devout Buddhist well known for his generous donations to a multitude of charities. After a lifetime of service, he passed away in 1997. May he find the ultimate bliss of Nirvana.

Prof Valentine Basnayake

He was born in 1925 and had his schooling at St Joseph’s College Colombo. After the MBBS Dr Basnayake spent his postgraduate years at Oxford University and joined the Department of Physiology in Colombo in 1949. I recall with nostalgia attending one of his tutorials in his office with all the curtains drawn. In the warmth of the room, the soft melancholic drone of his voice put me to sleep. I did see several others struggling to keep awake. Perhaps there was a booze up in the Men’s Common Room the previous evening!!

He had a lifelong love of music and was a fine pianist. He soon became Sri Lanka’s foremost accompanist and a regular performer at the Lionel Wendt. In 1968 he joined the Faculty of Medicine at Peradeniya as its Professor of Physiology which was the ultimate accolade. Soon he became the Dean of the Faculty a position he held for three years with poise, tact and equanimity. Prof VB was a softly spoken unpretentious gentleman who had no harsh word for anyone.

He belonged to a fast vanishing era of privileged aristocrats of the Medical Profession. Doubtless that was part of his appeal as a cultured gentleman. Despite his posh diction he was tolerant and non-demonstrative and never pompous. He wore those privileges with modesty and charm. In an era when some senior professionals had big egos and treated students with contempt Prof Basnayake treated each of us with courtesy, dignity and respect. That is how I would remember this erudite scholar. He passed away in 2014. May he find Eternal Peace.