Sunday, April 28, 2013

Dr. Grace Barr Kumarakulasinghe - Obituary


From: Muttuvelu Maheswaran <muttuvelumaheswaran32@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Apr 28, 2013 at 11:20 PM
Subject: Fwd: Obituary Dr Grace Barr Kumarakulasinghe
To:





DR. BARR KUMARAKULASINGHE - GRACE RAJAMALAR. Aged 104, loving wife of the late Mr. Gunaratnam and dearly beloved mother of Sudhir, went to be with the Lord. Mortal remains lie at A.F. Raymond’s Funeral Parlour, Borella. Service at 4.00 p.m. on Sunday 28th April and thereafter burial at the General Cemetery, Kanatte (Anglican Section). 43 1/2, Gregory’s Road, Colombo 07.            094100 
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Felicitation
Dr Grace Barr Kumarakulasinghe 
MRCP (E), DCH (Lond), LMS (Cey) 
Sri Lanka Journal of Child Health, 2008: 37: 105
Grace Barr Kumarakulasinghe (nee Sinnathamby) 
was born on the August 7, 1908, as the seventh child 
of G.V. and Alice Sinnathamby. She celebrated her 
100th birthday on August 7, 2008. Dr. Barr 
Kumarakulasinghe now lives with her son, Sudhir in 
Gregory’s Road Colombo. 
She first attended Wolfendhal Girl’s School, moved 
to Good Shepherd Convent Kotahena and finally to 
Ladies College where she obtained a first class at the 
matriculation examination. Her brother, Dr G S 
Sinnathamby, coaxed her into a career in medicine. 
She qualified as a doctor, with First Class Honours, 
from the Medical College, Colombo in 1937. 
In 1948, accompanied by her husband, she proceeded 
to the United Kingdom on a government scholarship. 
She returned to Ceylon in 1953 after obtaining the 
DCH (London) and the MRCP (Edinburgh). She was 
appointed to the Castle Street Maternity Hospital and 
in 1954 became the Founder Joint Editor of the 
Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, her co-editor 
being Dr. Siva Chinnathamby. 
In 1956 she was appointed to the Lady Ridgeway 
Hospital, Colombo. She was elected the President of
the Ceylon Paediatric Association in 1963. She took a 
keen interest in developing the premature baby units 
in De Soysa Maternity Hospital and Castle Street 
Hospital for Women. 
I first met Dr. Grace Barr Kumarakulasinghe when 
she was Consultant Paediatrician, Lady Ridgeway 
Hospital. I did my internship under her in 1967 and
she retired from Government Service soon after I 
completed my internship. At that time the present 
ward 8 was ward 10 and that was where she worked. 
Dr Mirando was the Consultant Paediatrician, ward 9
and Dr Stella de Silva, the Consultant Paediatrician, 
ward 8. Dr Sandrasagara, Consultant Paediatric 
Surgeon, was in ward 7, immediately below us. On 
the other wing of the Hospital were Professor Priyani 
Soysa in ward 1, Dr Walpita in ward 2 and Dr A F S 
Perera in ward 3. 
In those days there were only 2 interns in a ward. My 
co-house officer was Viji Ponnambalam from a 
senior batch who had started her internship 3 months 
late. Thus, for the last 3 months of my internship I 
had to work alone. The paediatric registrar was Dr 
Jayaratnam who was also a nephew of Dr Barr 
Kumarakulasinghe. During that time each of the 
medical units had to look after, in rotation, 3 other 
units viz. Premature Baby Unit, Diphtheria Ward and
Polio Ward. It was a hectic time but I really enjoyed 
working under Dr Barr Kumarakulasinghe who was 
very supportive of us. Working alone for 3 months 
really toughened me up and helped me a lot in later
life. 
On behalf of all paediatricians in Sri Lanka I salute 
and felicitate Dr Grace Barr Kumarakulasinghe, who 
is cognitively well and physically independent, on 
reaching her 100th birthday, a truly unique 
achievement. 
Dr. G N Lucas 

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