(Citation presented by Dr B. J. C. Perera on 08^th June 2025 at the Inauguration Ceremony of the Annual Congress of the Sri Lanka College of Paediatricians.)

Ladies and Gentlemen, this year, the Sri Lanka College of Paediatricians has commenced a new enterprise. It is the inauguration of a Lifetime Achievement Award with automatic Induction into the Hall of Fame of the college. Our college is the very first medical academic organisation in Sri Lanka to commence such an award of unrestrained splendour.

At the Council Meeting of the College on the 11^th of April 2025, a name was proposed for this award. It was approved unanimously. That laureate is Professor Sanath Punsara Lamabadusuriya. Providing a citation for him is perhaps akin to taking coal to Newcastle, as the man and his achievements are well-known. I will only attempt to provide a bird’s-eye view of the person to suit this formal occasion.

In the year 49 BC, the uncrowned Roman Emperor Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon River with his army, and loudly exclaimed in Latin, “Alea iacta est,” which means “the die has been cast.” Sanath, when you were born on the 30^th of December 1942, to a family with the surname starting with “Lama“, meaning ‘child’, the die was indeed cast. Destiny had perhaps decreed that you would become a Paediatrician; a calling which started your long road to undisputed fame.

Sanath Lamabadusuriya, a 20-year-old Royalist, entered the Colombo Medical Faculty in 1962, not as a future prodigy but as a bit of a dark horse. Then, in their final MBBS Examination in 1967, the guy bloomed, overtook everybody else, secured 2^nd Class Honours with Distinctions in Medicine and Obstetrics and Gynaecology and was placed first in the combined order of merit of those who qualified from Peradeniya and Colombo, the only two Faculties of Medicine in Sri Lanka at that time.

The man dreamed big, but he had to prove himself, before others determined that he really belonged. In a glorious career, he has secured DCH(England), MRCP(UK), FRCP(London), FRCP(Edinburgh), FRCP(Glasgow), FRCPCH(UK), Honorary FRCPCH(UK), FCCP, FSLCPaed, Honorary FCGP(SL), and most importantly, PhD (London), and DSc (Ruhuna). The jewel in the crown was the receipt from Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the MBE, the Membership of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. He is the first clinician in Sri Lanka to secure a PhD by a research thesis and the only Sri Lankan domiciled in Sri Lanka in the modern era, to receive a Royal Honour from Great Britain. He was the Chair Professor of Paediatrics in Ruhuna and Colombo and retired on the 30^th of September 2008. However, he did not stop there. He stepped in when there was a lack of teaching staff in the newer universities and continues to teach as a Visiting Professor in the Universities of Rajarata and Sabaragamuwa. This is his 56^th year as a medical teacher. All in all, he has taught in four Medical Faculties in Sri Lanka and one Foreign University in Saudi Arabia while he was on Sabbatical Leave. He gave away his capital freely, not monetary wealth, but the wealth of knowledge. His students would even worship the ground he walks on. To top it all, he was the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, from 2002 to 2005 and the Chairman of the Board of Study in Paediatrics of the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine of the University of Colombo, continuously from 1991 to 2002.

Just for the record, he has made numerous scholarly discourses, delivered many Invited Plenary Lectures, presented 3 scientific orations, as well as 2 landmark invited addresses, and published over 140 peer-reviewed research articles in journals. He has not sat back on his laurels even after his PhD.

Professor Lamabadusuriya was the President of the Sri Lanka Paediatric Association, the forerunner of our college, in 1993, and I was the Honorary Secretary under him. The man gave me a free hand to do whatever had to be done. He had a very successful year in office as the President.

In recognition of his services to Paediatrics, the Association of Pediatric Societies of the South-East Asian Region (APSSEAR), which later became the Asia Pacific Pediatric Association (APPA), honoured him with the “Outstanding Paediatrician of Asia” title in 1997. He was the President of the very same Asia Pacific Pediatric Association (APPA) from 2006 to 2009. There are a whole host of other achievements which I am not able to present here, purely due to limitations on time.

Mr President, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am 5 years younger and 3 years junior to him in service. We have been virtual contemporaries and know each other very well. Behind his back, of course, I call him “The King”, or “Raja Thuma“. Sanath and I have been close friends, but that rapport is kind of a quaint but strange alliance, thriving in accord, as well as in discord. We have openly argued about many things, even in public, but we have never raised our voices against each other, as we believe that reasoning and courage do not have to reach higher decibel levels. If I provided evidence to support a stance I took, he would accept it, and I reciprocated in the same manner. Over the years, we have tacitly and implicitly, agreed even to disagree, without being disagreeable.

Mr President, Ladies and Gentlemen, Professor Sanath Punsara Lamabadusuriya, by his supreme contribution to child healthcare in Sri Lanka, undeniably deserves this honour. It is the ultimate accolade, designed and commissioned to reflect our respect, symbolise our admiration, and convey our superlative appreciation for his commitment to Paediatrics in Sri Lanka. It is also a notable feather in the cap of our college to have someone like him as the inaugural recipient of this award.

Mr President, I am definitely over the moon to present my close friend, the Good Professor, for the conferment of this unique, pivotal and priceless tribute.