I knew Avissawela very
well as I used to attend the Magistrate’s court, there in my capacity as
District Medical Officer (DMO) District Hospital Karawenella in 1967-69.
Karawenella was a small
village close to Yatiyantota, i.e. Dr. NM Perera ‘s–electoral constituency
(of Ratharan Mulle –‘’Golden Brain’’ fame as dubbed by Sirimavo
Bandaranayake. He was her Finance Minister)
. Karawenella was about
15-20 miles from Avissawell and close to Dehiowita. It was a very pretty
village then, with the Mahaweli flowing through a large beautiful Iron Bridge.
We used to enjoy bathing in its cool waters and picnicking on the river banks.
I have also worked at
Kitulgala Rural Hospital which was close to the Rest House river site
where Bridge over the River Kwai was filmed, with Sir Alec as the British Army
Commander. I used to cover Kitulgala in the absence of the DMO there.
As a lot of illicit
liquor was being brewed in the surrounding small villages of Karawenella,
consequently there were a lot of knife and gun crime. Seriously ill patients
with fatal stabbing and gun shot wounds were brought into our hospital, at all
odd hours in the night especially during festival holiday times. . Following
this the morbidity and mortality were very high. As DMO I used to do a lot
of postem-mortems. My attendent who used to accompany me in my car to far
off places like Berranawa- a most beautiful remote hillside village, used to
help me with the dissection.
During my period at
Karawenella I collected more than a 1000 so called ‘’Police Tickets’’
issued by the local police in connection with the homicidal cases. That is how
I got involved with those court cases. Invariably I was summoned to give
medical evidence at the Supreme Court in Ratnapura and sometimes at the
Hulftsdorf Supreme Court in Colombo. I remember I was thoroughly
cross-examined on one occasion by Dr. Colvin R De Silva’s son-in law
Daya…. (who died prematurely)
On the other hand talking
of regard, we were almost revered by the public at Karawenella, for our
service dedication. Of course there was no overtime as such. We used to
work to the point of exhaustion at no extra overtime pay, which was unknown in
those days. I never did Private Practice.
Sadiq
A Golden Oldie
From a film screened at Liberty Cinema during our student days -
Hi lili, hi lili, hi lo, hi lo ...
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