News items of CoMSAA

Letter of thanks from Prof. Sherifdeen

Date: Wednesday, September 19, 2012, 4:51 PM

Dear all,

 

 CoMSAA Scientific Congress and Reunion 9^th September

 

Thank you very much for helping to organize the above event which by all accounts was a resounding success. It was indeed a great pleasure and privilege working with such a great team.

 

Deepa, you have more than justified the faith I had in you when I co opted you to the Committee. Your zeal and enthusiasm was infectious and made us work even harder and the results were obvious.

Thank you for all the work you put in terms of time and even expenses, if not for which it would not have been the success it was.

 

Nalika, I like the way you always volunteered when some task or other came up. These were all attended to meticulously. The badges were great, and the coordination of the buses went off smoothly. Your cheerful presence at our meetings were an inspiration.

 

Piyusha, I do not know whether there was any other person in the Committee who could have handled the souvenir work the way you did. It was an excellent job and is spite of the few hiccups the final product is great and will day no doubt one day become a collector’s item. You handled all the pressure with a calm and smiling face, no wonder your husband looks relaxed!

 

Dr. BJC, I do not know how CoMSAA could have got off the ground without you. First your Editorial skills, your compering abilities, your lecture style and lastly but not the least, your talents as a singer, especially the “Marichchi meeya” song all went a great way to make the day complete. Thank you very much for coming in spite of your daughter’s sudden operation.

 

 

Jennifer, you have handled the accounts like a professional accountant. I am proud that we can maintain transparency and accountability from the very beginning and set the standards for the future.

 

Philip, you have more than justified my invitation to you to be a co opted member. Thank you for the blog, and for attending the meetings so regularly at much personal cost. It is an example to others who are in Colombo . Thank you for the photo coverage of the event. They are great.

 

Saroja, your presence at our meetings and ready commitment to take on any task was inspiring. Thank you for arranging to get the song books which made the sing along such a success.

 

Athula, I know that without you CoMSAA would not have been born, and after the successful delivery the infant would not have survived and nurtured into a healthy, sturdy being which CoMSAA is now. Thank you for your strength, inputs, financial commitment, and support to get sponsors for the event.

 

Chandra, your commitment to make CoMSAA a success is by itself inspiring. Thank you for the membership drive and for helping to sell the tickets.

 

Ruvaiz, in spite of not being a product of the Colombo Faculty I can see that you have shown more love for it than some of its students! Thank you for the support to get sponsors. The event went off smoothly as a result.

 

Dennis, I simply do not know how you do it. You attend all our meetings coming through the traffic from Ratmalana and yet look so cheerful and relaxed. You are an inspiration. Thank you for that great speech and the naughty jokes so tastefully delivered (if there is such a thing.). Chrissie too is a phenomenon. She organized the games for the ladies single handed and even bought the presents. I wish we could make her an alumnus! 

 

Dr. Sarath Gamini, you were an inspiration, attending every meeting and giving us guidance with your cryptic comments which were enjoyed by all of us. Thank you also for introducing Dr. Siva for the event. He was a non controversial choice.

 

 

I do hope you will continue giving CoMSAA the same inspirational support you gave me.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Prof A.H.Sheriffdeen

 

Colombo Medical School Alumni Association
Faculty of Medicine
University of Colombo
Sri Lanka
comsaa@rocketmail.com

www.comsaa.org

Newsletter of CoMSAA August 2012

Click on web-link below to download:-

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Pictures of events in the Faculty and of the Alumni.

1963 pass-out batch, reunion, Colombo.

Humor related to the Faculty of Medicine, Colombo, Sri Lanka.

These are real life incidents relating to the Colombo Medical Faculty and a collection of other stories. We hope that reading them puts you in a good mood. Please send us your contributions to the following email address :- comedfaculty@gmail.com

A 'Saying' to remember

'Good judgment' comes from experience.  

'Experience' comes from bad judgment.

Sent by Premalatha Balasuriya (Ranasinghe)- 1959 batch

1. New students had entered the Faculty and it was ragging time. I am relating one incident that I can recall. The fresher boys had to come in white trousers and during the interval they had to come to the lawn in front of the Physiology block. They had to roll up one trouser leg, wear jingle bells on the leg, wear the tie front to back (I can recall only this much). The so called ‘honourable seniors’ got them to march round and round the lawn saying ‘left, right, left, right’ The Dean – Prof Abeyratne, fondly referred to as ‘pachaya’- announced his arrival by a small cough and the seniors ran away. The boys continued to march. He came and asked ‘Are you a pack of lunatics from Angoda?’ No answer came. The boys continued to march saying ‘left, right, left, right’ for a time until they got chased away by the Dean. I am sure they enjoyed the fun.

2. There used to be an annual cricket match- staff vs block students in the 1960s. Sheriff Deen happened to be the compere.  Dr Watson had just started neurophysiology lectures and it was like Greek to most of us. When he started to bat, the compere announced ‘Dr Watson is receiving an afferent input from  ???? and he is sending an efferent discharge’ and so on..

3. When we were doing Prof C C de Silva’s appointment at LRH, Malkanthi (Dr Channa Wijesinghe’s wife) was the intern house officer. Prof used to sit at the table and teach with the students around him. The intern house officers had to be there. He carried a long knee hammer with which he used to hit anyone missing an answer to his question. Malkanthi happened to answer a question put to a student. He said ‘next time you do that, I will put you under the table’ and he did just that. Whenever a student missed answering a question he used to hit Malkanthi under the table with the knee hammer. She was shouting ‘Please don’t sir’. She had to wait there until the end of the class

Legends of the past - Before 50 years.

                   Prof. Milroy Paul - Surgery   Prof Senaka Bibile - Pharmacology    

Cartoons drawn by Medical Students during Faculty days.

Please send in copies of cartoons drawn by medical students during Faculty days to the following email address ; -Please send copies of photographs related to your student days at the Medical Facuty, Colombo, for inclusion in this page. Copies of photos to be sent by email to comedfaculty@gmail.com . Please send it with a relevant comment and the year it was drawn

   

Cartoon drawn in the 1960s - Prof Chapman (Bacteriology) in theatre gown, Prof Abheyeratna (Public Health), Dean, in dark suit, Prof Ranasinghe (Obs&Gyn.) wearing a bow-tie, Prof Bibile (Pharmacology)in bush coat, bent figure with hat - Prof Sivalingam,(Parasitology) figure with trailking tie Pro.Milroy Paul,(Surgery) and Prof Fonseka (Surgery).

 

Pro.Milroy Paul, Prof Navaratne and Prof Fonseka.

 

Medical students portrayal of a Clinical Teacher - 1990s

Photos of student days and after from the Colombo Medical Faculty Alumnmi, Sri Lanka.

Please send copies of photographs related to your student days at the Medical Facuty, Colombo, for inclusion in this page. Copies of photos to be sent by email to comedfaculty@gmail.com .

 Please send a small note describing the scene in the photo and the time period that the photo was taken.

50 year get-together 1959 entrants batch - Photo sent by Premalatha Balasuriya

Lucky Abey adnl1102@gmail.com	19 Apr (7 days ago)
to me

I am not sure whether this tradition is followed these days, but the Final Year Trip was a fun event of male medical students some decades ago. Those of us who entered the Colombo Medical Faculty in June 1962 set off on this trip that covered Kegalle, Kurunegala, Hatton, Badulla and Ratnapura some time during the long vacation in 1966. Our seniors in those duty stations lavishly hosted us. We on our part, did whatever we could to entertain them.

These few selected pictures tell the story. Off to a start from near the clock tower on Kynsey Road and the stops on the way. In the picture taken in front of the old HO's quarters named  "The Igloo" in Badulla, the central figure in white is Dr. K.M. Saravanamuttu who was two years senior to us. In another picture with the CTB bus in the background is another senior Dr. S. Chitsabesan (in tie). "Marker" of the Men's Common Room who accompanied us and the bus driver too are in the same picture. In Kurunegala, among our hosts were

Dr. Titus Perera and the late Dr. R.S.B. Wickramasinghe.

Sent in by: Lakshman Abeyagunawardene (1962 entrant)

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Premalatha Balasuriya premalathablk@yahoo.com	19 Apr (7 days ago)
to me

I am Premalatha Balasuriya (nee Ranasinghe)- 1959 batch, Colombo Medical Faculty

During the period I was in the faculty, there were 2 Buddhist Brotherhood trips per year- a 1day trip and a 2 day trip

Prof Rajasuriya, Dr Jayatillake (Jacko) and wife Dr Soma de Sylva, Dr Malini Silva (all in Prof Rajasuriya’s car) used to accompany 2 bus loads of students on these trips.

I am sending some old photos from these trips taken during the period 1960-64.

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The members of the present Committee of CoMSAA

President - Deshamanya Prof. A. H. Sheriffdeen
President - elect  - Deshamanya Dr. J. B. Peiris.

Vice - Presidents -
Prof. Rohan Jayasekara
Prof. Sanath. P. Laqmabadasuriya MBE
Vidyajothi Prof. Lalitha Mendis

Co - Secretaries
Prof. Athula Kaluarachchi
Dr. Saroja Siriwardene

Treasurer
Prof. Jennifer Perera

Asst. Treasurer 
Dr. Piyusha Atapattu

Editor
Dr. B.J.C. Perera

Asst. Editor
Dr. Chandra Jayasuriya

Committee
Dr. Dennis Aloysius
Dr. M.S.G. de Silva
Prof. Ravindra Fernando
Prof. Colvin Gooneratne
Dr. Nalika Gunawardena
Prof. R.L. Jayakody
Dr. Lucian Jayasuriya
Dr. D.S. Liyanarachchi
Vidyajothi Prof. Rizvi Sheriff
Dr. Lalith Wijeratne

Co-opted Members
Dr. Philip G. Veerasingam
Dr. Deepa Wimalasena

Telephone: 011 2695300

E-mail: comsaa@rocketmail.com