In the ward classes
called the 'Pre-clinicals' in our 2nd MB and in the appointments called
'Clerking' in the later years, where the students spent two months with a
Consultant in each major specialty the inputs were remarkable. Each
one of these Consultants was a 'character'. What fun we had learning about life
and medicine from them. They were some of the ideals we built on. They were
quite 'distant' with us as they belonged to a different generation but the
dedication and love they had for their work stood out. Hardly any of them were
mercenary and they did not have the vulgar habit of flaunting their riches.
I list below a few of the names which stand out and will expand on the experiences we had as students.
The Clinical teachers – b - The Physicians & Obs.&Gyn. Consultants.
I list below a few of the names which stand out and will expand on the experiences we had as students.
The Clinical teachers – b - The Physicians & Obs.&Gyn. Consultants.
Dr. Thanabalasunderam Consultant Physician
Dr. Thanabalasunderam known affectionately as 'Thanaballs' was a superb clinician and demanding teacher. He followed 'Hutchison's Clinical methods' to the letter. Students dreaded to get his appointment but once in worked hard for the allotted eight weeks. Every student had to do the 'Benedicts' ward test for sugar in each of his allotted patient. It demanded a lot of time and effort. In the pre 'Glucometer' days any patient admitted to the GH Colombo had an entry on the BHT by the nurse, on urine sugar as tested by Benedicts solution. This diabetes mellitus was picked up early and treatment instituted. Alas those days are gone.
I met 'Thanabals' in the private sector at the 'Sulaimans Hospital' in Grand-pass, Colombo when I was Consultant Surgeon at the NHSL. He still had the same meticulous clinical effort to his dying day.
Dr. Wijenaike Consultant Physician
Dr. Medonza Consultant
Physician
Dr. Prince Rajaratnam Consultant Obs&Gyn
Dr. Ms Panchalingam Consultant Obs&Gyn
Dr. Henry Nannayakkara Consultant Obs & Gyn.
Dr. Stanley De Silva Consultant Paediatrician
Dr. Ms Stella De Silva Consultant Paediatrician
Dr. Ms. Barr Kumarakulasinghe Consultant Paediatrician
Dr. Thanabalasunderam known affectionately as 'Thanaballs' was a superb clinician and demanding teacher. He followed 'Hutchison's Clinical methods' to the letter. Students dreaded to get his appointment but once in worked hard for the allotted eight weeks. Every student had to do the 'Benedicts' ward test for sugar in each of his allotted patient. It demanded a lot of time and effort. In the pre 'Glucometer' days any patient admitted to the GH Colombo had an entry on the BHT by the nurse, on urine sugar as tested by Benedicts solution. This diabetes mellitus was picked up early and treatment instituted. Alas those days are gone.
I met 'Thanabals' in the private sector at the 'Sulaimans Hospital' in Grand-pass, Colombo when I was Consultant Surgeon at the NHSL. He still had the same meticulous clinical effort to his dying day.
Dr. Wijenaike Consultant Physician
Dr.Wijenayake
VP
- Dr Wijenayake was a Visiting
Physician, at the GH Colombo when we were medical students. Once our batch
during the early days of clerking, when we were picking up our basics of
symptoms and signs, was being shown a patient with bronchial asthma. He asked
one member of our batch, to use his newly aquired stethescope, to listen to the
sounds in the chest. He was asked to describe what he heard. My friend who was
not sure of the differrent types of breath soiunds answered:-
"Sir, I hear RHONCHIAL
breathing".
Dr.Wijenayake looked at him through his tinted
glasses and said:-
"I
have heard of Vesicular breathing, Asthmatic breathing and I have heard
Rhonchi. This is the first time I am hearing about this type of breathing
called RHONCHIAL"
My
friend blushed red in the face and was speechless.
Medical reps were a 'presence' during our
student days. They used to hover around the consultants. Those days there was
minimal control over sale of drugs in Ceylon . Doctors were pressurized by
their patients to prescribe 'tonics'. The 'tonics' had a variety of vitamins
and a liberal dose of alcohol. Quite a few patients liked the brew. These
'tonics' were labeled as "Harmless useless drugs' by our teachers in the
Department of Pharmacology headed by Prof.Bibile. I remember Dr.Lionel, one of
the senior lecturers in the pharmacology department, telling us in one of his
lectures, about a very well prescribed tonic called 'Tonicum Merz'. He said
that on the label of the bottle of this tonic it listed the various
ingredients. It had various vitamins, minerals, alcohol and what was described
as "Extractum faecies" whatever that meant. Prof.Bibile in his short
span of 52 years of life, transformed the way drugs were imported into
Sri-Lanka. He was a model for the third world. His policies on purchase and
distribution of drugs by a state revolutionized the thinking of states, where
drug multi-nationals ruled the roost on drug prescriptions.
One
day while we were waiting for Dr.Medonza VP to arrive in the ward to do his
ward rounds we saw a smartly dressed medical rep with tie and portfolio in his
hand approach him. He followed Dr.Medonza to the entrance to the ward. He
pulled out a tube of medicament from his bag and said "Sir, I have a
sample of Drapolene crème to give you". Medonza promptly answered "
Drapolene crème? What do I want Drapolene crème for? To wipe my arse?" The
medical rep went red in the face and beat a hasty retreat in the face of
laughter from the medical students.
Dr. Rolly P. Jayewardene,
b:1918, d:11 Nov 1999, MD, MRCP and FRCP, Senior Physician of the General Hospital, Colombo. Director-General at NARESA (Natural Resources Energy and Science Authority) which has now been replaced by the NSF (Natural Science Foundation). + DR. Gladys, Chairperson, State Pharmaceutical Corporation, PhD in Parasitology from University of London. The first woman to be the Director of The Medical Research Institute.
Dr. Ernie Peiris Consultant
PhysicianDr. Rolly P. Jayewardene,
b:1918, d:11 Nov 1999, MD, MRCP and FRCP, Senior Physician of the General Hospital, Colombo. Director-General at NARESA (Natural Resources Energy and Science Authority) which has now been replaced by the NSF (Natural Science Foundation). + DR. Gladys, Chairperson, State Pharmaceutical Corporation, PhD in Parasitology from University of London. The first woman to be the Director of The Medical Research Institute.
‘Errnie’ to the medical students was short, chubby and was
nattily dressed. He was fair with a round face. He had a subtle sense of humor
but a blushing red face was a dead give-away for a subtle joke. He thus earned
the nick name ‘thakkaali’ (tomato) Peiris. He would drive in, in his green two
tone Austin Cambridge. The white satin drill suit was a perfect match. He had
noticed a young couple in our batch who were in the early stages of ‘getting
hitched’. A patient with ascites was on the bed. Ernie demonstrated to us the
method of ‘eliciting a thrill’ to show that there was fluid inside the
peritoneal cavity. Ernie got the male member of the couple to stand on the left
side of the patient and made him place his right palm on the patient’s left
flank. Then he got the girl tostand on the right side of the patient and place
her right palm edgewise on the abdomen from the epigastrium to just below the
umbilicus to dampen the thrill travelling across the abdominal wall. He then
gave a flick with his finger on the left side of the patient’s abdomen. He
asked the male whether he felt a thrill. The male medical student answered ‘yes’.
Then he got the girl to use her left hand and flick on the right side of the
patient’s abdomen. He asked the male student whether he felt a thrill this time
also. He answered ‘Yes Sir’ with a beaming face. Ernie remarked ‘Now you know
how to thrill each other’. At the same time true to form Ernie went red in the
face.
Dr. Prince Rajaratnam Consultant Obs&Gyn
Dr. Ms Panchalingam Consultant Obs&Gyn
Dr. Henry Nannayakkara Consultant Obs & Gyn.
A tale related by
Dr. Mark Amarasinghe
Dr. Mark Amarasinghe was training in Liverpool with
Mr.Charles Wells, the Surgeon. Dr.Henry Nannayakkara had finished his training
with Mr.Charles Wells and had returned to Ceylon. News reached Mark that his
friend Henry had got his appointment as Consultant Obstetrician in the
Department of Health Services, Ceylon. The following conversation took place
between Mark and ‘Charlie’ Wells.
Mark – Sir, Dr.Henry
Nannayayakkara has been appointed a Consultant in Ceylon.
Charles Wells – Excellent, excellent.
Mark – He has been appointed as a Consultant Obtetrician and Gynaecologist.
Charles Wells – What a waste of an excellent operator.
This story was related to me by Dr.Mark Amerasinghe,
Orthopedic Surgeon.
There was a mango tree just outside the DMH OT, with a lot
of fruits hanging and a few ripe fruits fallen on the ground below. Dr.Caldera
pointed the tree to young Dr. Nannayakkara, just returned from UK and full of
new ideas on obstetric intervention, and said
' Dr.Nannayakkara, do you see those mango fruits? When the
time is ripe they fall down.' That was all Dr.Caldera said and Henry – later to
become Professor of Obs & Gyn, understood and remembered it for a lifetime.
Dr. Stanley De Silva Consultant Paediatrician
Dr. Ms Stella De Silva Consultant Paediatrician
Dr. Ms. Barr Kumarakulasinghe Consultant Paediatrician