1960 Medical entrants batch, Kynsey road, Colombo, 53rd anniversary, get together.

 

The One and Only 300 Batch of 1960 celebrates their 53^rd Anniversary

 

On Saturday the 7^th of July some 50 plus members of the Medical Batch of 1960 will be celebrating their 53^rd Anniversary at The Jetwing Lagoon in Negambo. This batch is unique in the history of medical education in Sri Lanka in that for the first and last time 300 students were admitted to the medical faculty in Colombo in September 1960. Many readers would ask “how come such a large intake was possible then, whereas not more than 180+ are admitted to any one state medical faculty in this day and age? Three hundred were admitted as a result of a Government decision after the 1959 University Entrance / H.S.C. common exam, to scrap the then 1^st year which was spent in the Science Faculty of the University of Ceylon. Thus some 150 of us who had spent 1959 doing a “ridiculous” truncated 1^st MBBS year at the Science faculty were admitted along with 150 “direct” entrants to the Medical Faculty in September 1960 constituting the “300” batch.

Initially it would be worth recalling how the Medical Faculty (there was only one then) coped with this huge number. There was no lecture theatre capable of accommodating such large a number. Construction of the The “New” Anatomy Lecture Theatre was completed only when the batch reached its third year. This “New” Anatomy Lecture Theatre is now no more having been demolished to accommodate a large new complex which is yet to be finished. The students were divided into two batches and while one had lectures in the morning the other half had practical classes and vice versa. Thus the work load for teachers as well as support staff doubled overnight.  As far as I can recall, some additional lecturers were recruited for Anatomy and Physiology but no support staff. We the batch have to be thankful that at that time the Staff both academic and non- academic did not agitate nor even complain about the increased work load. I am not sure whether there even were trades unions for academic and non-academic staff at the time. If there weren’t any we have to thank God for it!  Attendance was compulsory at lectures and each student had to sit in the assigned seat in Alphabetical oder. So those seated on either side remained the same for much of the course at lectures. Constantly being next to one another did result in some being coupled for life! When it came to tutorials, and ward classes and clerkships in our clinical years the groups were extremely large. Some groups had to do their “professorial” appointments in our third year.  All of these would now be considered unsuitable as per present guidelines / criteria for an MBBS program. Yet succeed we did thanks to the efforts of our beloved teachers. Those days there were no multi-media, no E boards, no slide projectors and if I recall even an overhead projector was a luxury. It was all chalk and talk and it was left to the pedagogical skills of our teachers some of whom used the vast expanse of a black board that often extended the whole breadth of the lecture room most effectively like in an anatomy lecture to impart knowledge to us.

The Batch may have been unique in more ways than one. We were ragged a second time. This too with official sanction by order of the much feared Sir Nicholas Attygalle who was Vice Chancellor at the time for a misdemeanor committed by some of our batch during the Law – Medical cycle parade. The Rag then was a pretty innocuous affair with the seniors having some fun at the expense of us freshers. The writer remembers being ragged by those whom he had known in School or those with whom he was already playing rugby as he had spent a year in the Varsity being a part of the 1959 intake. In those good old days, elections for office in the Medical Student’s Union unlike for the main Union at the Thurstan Road campus were not politicized.  One of the batch now a retired Surgeon was nominated from “The Bottle Party” and was elected to The Medical Student’s Union! In our days we had study groups from within the batch. The groups were made up of those with similar interests and often school backgrounds unlike today where I believe “Kuppis” or tuition and part indoctrination sessions  by one or more seniors is the fashion.

 

In 1965 some 290 odd graduated in two batches in March and July or August. For those doctors who graduated much later, medical students and others interested reading this, it should be said that according to the curriculum and examination rules and by-laws, if a student was not able due to illness or other legitimate reasons to sit the regular 2^nd MMBS exam in our case held in December 1961, he / she still missed out and graduated later resulting in a loss of seniority in the health service. This was because not long after graduation we were given our internship appointments. One of those thus affected was a member of the well-known singing duo at the time the J- brothers. Later this younger brother Geri went on to become a well know surgeon and Professor. The batch was also unique in that we had an extended period of internship – 3 months beyond the 1 year. This I believe was to enable post-intern appointments to be made for the whole batch. There was no GMOA to protest such a decision by the Ministry of Health. Some of us used the extra 3 months to do a third specialty by exchanging positions by mutual consent. There was no official “Merit List”. It was assumed that the top performers got internship in Colombo if they so wished and also the opportunity to choose who they would like to intern with. In our graduating year, the Government decided to bring in a rule that there would be a five-year period of compulsory govt. service at the end of the internship. A few skipped out of the country choosing to do their internship in the United Kingdon as the Ceylon M.B.B.S. degree had full recognition by the General Medical Council of Great Britain. Most others sent in an application for GMC registration soon after the end of internship and became fully registered with the G.M.C. No sitting the PLAB or equivalent! Certainly the standards were very high and also the vast majority of students were quite competent in English. Our teachers not only staff of the Faculty but also the Clinicians who imparted their knowledge to us to whom I’m sure we all are grateful are too many to name. A few among them come to mind, like Prof. C.C. de Silva, and Dr. Drogo Austin who used to entertain every batch clerking under them to a dinner and in Dr. Austin’s case an 8mm film of wild life taken by him. Dr. P.R.Anthonis was well known for his generosity in doling out money to students in need of text books.

There have been vast changes in both the pattern of disease and the way medicine was practiced then compared to now. While we were in clinical training, Polio was still very much around and at The Lady Ridgeway Hospital there was a “Polio ward” with the huge machines hissing away. These were called “Iron Lungs” and helped the patient whose muscles were paralysed to breathe. It was probably in our 3^rd or 4^th year that Prof. Sabin the discoverer of the first Polio vaccine, visited The Faculty. Prof. Sabin was most impressed with a question asked by one of our batch who went by his abbreviated name Ooyir. His full name was a real tongue twister Ooyirlangkumaran..

It was not “all work and no play” many among the batch were top flight sportsmen and include the Double International Buddy Reid who excelled in table tennis and cricket. The P. Sara trophy winning team of 1963 had among its members Buddy Reid brothers Carlyle and Travis Perera; Chandran Ponnambalam who was a National basketball player and Keerthi Makuloluwa who represented Colombo clubs in rugby. Many others played for the Varsity in Rugby, Hockey, footbal etc. Buddy continues to excel in Veterens T.T. and I hear just the other day he won a Gold medal and a Bronze medal in the over 75 year category World Championships in Las Vegas, U.S.A.

Despite the large groups at clinical classes etc., the members of the batch have significant contributions to Medical knowledge and medical practice both here and abroad. At least 10 went on to become Professors many here in Sri Lanka and some overseas. A very large number obtained U.K. postgraduate qualifications quite a few returning to Sri Lanka  and some ending up as consultants at The National Hospital while many others served with distinction in hospitals in the U.K. Quite a large number are in U.S.A. and almost all without exception have done their residency training successfully distinguishing themselves. Yet others have ended up in Australia and New Zealand doing equally well.  Some have been honoured for their services in the countries of their residence. Others have authored textbooks in medicine and books of interest. Space limitations does not allow me to mention them all in detail.

The late Sarath Kapuwatte who was the mainstay of The Organizing Committees for all the previous batch reunions was a doyen of Rugby in Kandy having contributed enormously to Kandy Sports Club becoming a rugby powerhouse. Those interested in knowing more about the batch should read “Remembered Vignettes” –Bay Owl Press 2008 by Phillip Veerasingham. Philip is not only a reputed surgeon but a great story teller and writer of several books and articles of interest. His article in the Ceylon Medical Journal - https://cmj.sljol.info/article/10.4038/cmj.v47i2.3458/galley/2825/download/ and was of immense value as it suggested some aspects of intrigue within the Royal family - more importantly it was probably the first clinical description of tetanus-even the effects on the autonomic system when these were not known to man. Philip is an avid photographer too and helps maintain our Batch Blog site  - http://1960medicalbatchcolombo.blogspot.com/ and several blogs on Birds (of the feathered kind) in Sri Lanka -  http://photosofbirdsofsrilanka.blogspot.com/    and http://philipv203.blogspot.com/  

 

A.S.D