Asoka Jayaweera, Sydney Hettiarachchi, Raja Makuloluwa, Asoka Dissanayaka, Derwyck de Zylwa
University of Ceylon Rugger team 1964
Copy of a newspaper article
On Saturday the 7th of July some 50 plus members of the Medical Batch of 1960 will be celebrating their 53rd Anniversary at The Jetwing Lagoon in Negombo. This batch is unique in the history of medical education in Sri Lanka in that for the first and last time 275 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 1st year (1st MBBS) 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 1st 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 medical faculty then in the Island) coped with this huge number. There was no lecture theatre capable of accommodating such a large 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 aphabetical order. 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, rumor had it, 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.
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 oral 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 topflight 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 Veerasingam.. Philip is not only a reputed
surgeon but a great storyteller 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
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