medical batch Colombo1960

Tuesday, April 12, 2022

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

On Saturday the 7th of July some 60 plus members of the Medical Batch of 1960 will be celebrating their 53rd Anniversary at The Jetwing Lagoon in Negambo. This batch is unique in the history of Medical education in Sri Lanka. Many readers would ask “how come such a large intake was possible then, whereas not more than 180+ are admitted to any one state university in this day and age. Three hundred were admitted as a result of a Government decision after the1959 University Entrance / H.S.C. common exam, to scrap the then 1st 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” 1st MBBS year at the Science 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. The batch had to be divided into 2. 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 anatomy complex which is yet to be finished. The students were themselves divided into two batches and while one had lectures in the morning the other half had practical classes and vice versa. 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. So those seated on either side remained the same for much of the course. 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. 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.

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 2nd 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. Some of used the extra 3 months to do a third specialty by exchanging positions by mutual consent. There was no GMOA to protest such a decision by the Ministry of Health. 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. There was no “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. At that time, the MBBS (Ceylon) as it was known was fully recognized by the General Medical Council of Great Britain enabling a few to “vanish” soon after the results were declared and do their internship in the U.K. Most others sent in an application for GMC registration soon after the end of internship and became fully registered with the G.M.C. Certainly the standards were very high and also the vast majority of students very 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. There were among them those 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 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 3rd or 4th 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 who ended up as a Haematologist in the U.K.

Among the graduating class are those who took to academic work – best known being the late Prof. Tissa Kappagoda who achieved international fame as a Cardiologist and Cardiac physiologist. Others who ended up in academia include in alphabetical order Professors .Ranjit Amarasekera, Asoka. Dissanayake, late Neil Fonseka, late Dayasiri Fernando, Derek Frewin,Asoka Gunasekera, late Tissa Kappagoda, Lakshman Karalliedde, Tilak Weerasinghe.

A vast number became consultants completing their postgraduate studies in either the U.K or the U.S.A. there was no Postgraduate Institute of Medicine in Sri Lanka then. A good many in the batch were among the large number of Sri Lankan doctors who migrated to the U.S.A. in the early seventies. It is to the credit of the then school educational system, and our teachers in the medical faculty that a vast number of our batch were able to pass the British postgraduate exams or complete the American Boards and gain recognition as consultants, many migrating to Australia and New Zealand later. A second exodus occurred after the 1983 riots depriving the Country of a large number of well qualified and experienced members of our batch. Listing them all is a difficult task. Suffice to say they all did very well in their chosen fields. Among them are Derek Frewin who went on to become Professor and Dean at Adelaide University and Pearl Hettiarachchi who was honoured with an O.B.E. by H.M. The Queen for her services to Psychiatry. Thus by the turn of the century there was only less than a third of the “300 Batch” living and working in Sri Lanka. Quite a few of the Batch who braved it all and stayed behind ended up as consultants in The now National Hospital , Kandy Teaching Hospital among others. They include Dr. Nihal Thenabadu, Dr. Phillip Veerasingham, Dr. Vipula Ariyasinghe, Dr. Ranjen Fernando, Dr. Mano Wedisinghe, and Dr. Samarasiri. Others like M.G.S. Karunanayake, Vijitha Nikapotha were consultants here before migrating to The U.K while Anula Nikapotha was for a time on the Academic staff in Psychiatry.

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 etc. Thus for many of us it was not “all work and no play”! 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 becoming a rugby powerhouse. Phillip Veerasingham is not only a surgeon but a writer of several books and also helps maintain our Batch Blog site.

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Karals & publication – Davidson chapter on Toxicology, Referance manual on side effects of drugs, two books Spittel and History of Medicine

Philip G Veerasingam – Contributions:-

1960 entrants Blog http://1960medicalbatchcolombo.blogspot.com/

Birds of SL - http://photosofbirdsofsrilanka.blogspot.com/

Flowers of SL - http://philipv203.blogspot.com/

Images of SL - http://imagessrilanka.blogspot.com/

Books authored by me:-

‘Remembered Vignettes’

‘The cry of the Devil Bird’

‘Tales of an enchanted Boyhood’

Contribution to the SLMJ -‘Ana