Obituary, Dr. T. Arulanandam, 1960 batch entrant, Colombo, Ceylon.

Dr. Arulanandam retired as Director of the Sexually Transmitted Diseases Services, in the Department of Health, Sri Lanka about a decade ago. Ever with a smile and gentle in his ways we will miss him.

'Oh for the touch of a vanished hand
And the sound of a voice that is stilled'

Philip G V

Sad news - demise of another of our batch mates , Ms. Swarna Premawansa( Samarasinghe)

Inbox

x

Sena & Sarojini	7:16 AM (8 hours ago)
to me, karu1941, adivasi1940, manawedi2005

Hi Philip

As discussed briefly with you on the phone yesterday , please share the very sad news of the death of Mrs Swarna Premaratne ( Samarasinghe )..

Swarna had died peacefully at her residence at Schofield Gardens, Colombo in October only witnessed by her house keeper.

Swarna had no surviving family as her husband had died few months previously. She had been working as Municipalty doctor at CMC.

A private funeral service had been conducted by her close relatives. Weda( M.P. Wedisingha in Kandy ) had been told by a friend of his who shared this sad news initially with us.

Wedi & Piyaseeli had visited her in Feb 2013.

Philip, you may remember Swarna along with few of us who attended the inaugural COMSAA in September 2012 at Bentota. ( Vipula, Wedi and Piyaseeli, Colvin, myself and few others). You  very kindly took few photos on that occasion with a special photograph to include the 1960 batch mates who attended this event.

Wedi, Piyaseeli and I travelled in the coach from Colombo medical faculty to Bentota and return on that day.as usual we did crack few jokes recollecting our medical school days.

Swarna was a very quiet but a very friendly batch mate who joined many of our batch events held in Sri Lanka .

Please share this Sad news even though it is belated.

Other batch mates may know more of her qualities.

May we all offer our deepest sympathies even belated to all her surviving family.
May she attain the everlasting bliss of nibbhana .

Best wishes

Nana

C.S.Nanayakkara

Swarna is standing next to Piyaseeli Wedisinghe at the CoMSAA get together at Beruwala in 2012.

Swarna at the 25th Anniversary get together in Kandy.

Obituary - Dr.M.H.De Zoysa, Surgeon, Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Dear all,

It is with regret and sadness this announcement comes to you, to inform the passing away of Dr. M H De Zoysa.
His body lies at the residence - 14, Bodiraja Mawatha, Jayanthipura, Battaramulla . The funeral will take place at 5pm today (23rd May, 2013) at the General Cemetery Borella.

Your's sincerely,

Dr. Chandika Liyanage,
Hony. Secretary

-- 

The College of Surgeons of Sri Lanka

My encounters with Dr. M.H.De Zoysa

1. I was a final year medical student in 1964 doing the Prof of Surgery appointment with Prof.Milroy Paul. Dr.Zoysa was his Registrar at that time. He was always on his toes and satisfying every whim and fancy of his Professor. On at least one occasion he drove the Professor to Kandy to lecture at the Peradeniya Medical Faculty when the Professor's car let him down. In the process he collected a lot of amusing stories of the late Professor.

2. In 1973 Dr.Zoysa was Resident Surgeon in Kandy after his overseas training. He, Dr.Purvey Lawrence and Prof Jayaweera (Obs & Gyn) stayed together in Kandy. I had finished my Primary FRCS and completed the required Surgical appointments to sit for the FRCS in UK. I was appointed additional Resident Surgeon at the GH Kandy. It was a hectic time during the 1971 JVP uprising. I was transferred to Batticaloa from Kandy after the rebellion was settled.

3. I succeeded Dr.Zoysa as Consultant Surgeon, General Hospital, Rathnapura in the year 1982 when Dr.Zoysa went as Consultant Surgeon to the GH Colombo.

4. I succeeded Dr.Zoysa as Consultant Surgeon, GH Colombo in 1991 when Dr.Zoysa retired.

5. Dr Zoysa joined the Sri Lankan Army after retirement and worked there till 2012 when he fell ill. His rank was Brigadier in 2012. He served the sick and wounded with courage and dedication till the end. In the dark days when life at Palaly had risks to life and limb Dr.Zoysa would joke with his anxious wife that he would gain a rank as General, posthumously if he died in battle there.

6. Dr.Zoysa was warded in the Intensive Care Unit of the Army Hospital and received the best of care there. His nutrition was good and he did not develop any pressure sores, the bane of prolonged bed-rest, in spite of being bed-ridden for almost one year. This shows the high standard of care he received there. The staff in this unit deserve the highest praise for their work.

A Gentleman in every sense of the word he played life's game following its rules. Dedication to work and teaching competency in the art of surgery to his juniors was his pride. He guided me in my first splenectomy at the GH Kandy. It was a pleasure to talk to him as he related many an interesting tale in his career.

He leaves behind his wife who retired as Head of the Blood Transfusion Services. His son Ishan is Professor of Surgery in the Faculty of Medicine, Kynsey Road, Colombo and is a Gastro-enterology Surgeon. His Daughter-in-law graduated from the Peradeniya Medical Faculty.

May he advance rapidly on the road to Nibbana.

May all the Kusala Kamma which he did accompany him in the road of Sansara.

All of us who benefited by his services bestow merit on him.

Mother Lanka will remember his services.

Philip G Veerasingam.

I was deeply saddened to hear of Dr de Zoysa's passing. I first met him during the 1983 riots, when I used to work at the Division of Biomedical Engineering Services. He and Mrs de Zoysa went on to become two of our closest friends, sticking by us through thick and thin. Together with Dr Michael Abeyaratne we designed a mobile operating theatre in which Dr MH did hundreds of surgeries in remote hospitals in many parts of the country in 1984-86. He and his house officers used to go to places such as Akuressa and Beliatta on weekends and do this work, entirely voluntarily (my job was to provide the logistics). It was also during that time that he became involved in the army, regularly travelling to Jaffna and other places (an OT was even specially built at Vavuniya) to provide casualty care during operations, together with Dr Narendra Wijemanne and Dr Michael Abeyaratne and later, many other surgeons and medical officers. I have never met anyone who loved Sri Lanka more than MHZ, or on Obituary - Dr.M.H.De Zoysa, Surgeon, Colombo, Sri Lanka.

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 

115-470-1-PB.pdf 210K   View   Download

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 

Obituary - Husband of Swarna Premawansa nee Samarasinghe.

Obituary Swarna 's husband.

Inbox

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Mana Wedisinghe	9:52 PM (7 hours ago)
to me

Hi Philip.

This is a note to inform of the death of , the husband of  our batchmate, Swarna  Premawansa nee Samarasinghe  about two weeks back.

The obituary appeared in the Daily News of  23 rd January .

HAPUWALANA - PREMAWANSA.  (Retired Lecturer, Faculty of Aesthetic Studies, Colombo), beloved husband of Dr. Swarna Premawansa, son of late Mr. Simon Hapuwalana and Mrs. Magdalin Kasturiarachchi (Kadawatha), expired. Cremation at 5.00 p.m. on Monday 28th January at General Cemetery, Kanatta. Remains will lie at Jayaratne Parlour, Borella. 24, Scofield Place, Colombo - 3.  Tel :  0112582478.

We visited her last week after the funeral.

Regards.

Wedi

Dr.MAC Perera - Obituary

Sena & Sarojini	2:45 AM (3 hours ago)
to me

Hi Philip

It is with sadness that we report the death of another of our batchmates- Dr M.A.C Perera. He was  rather quite but a very sincere and a friendly colleague. He was at Kithyakara Medical Student Hostel and after graduation, migrated to UK where he was a very successful GP in Wembley.

 As I recollect, he returned to Sri Lanka around 2003.

In case you have not seen his obituary notice ( which appear in Daily News 9th June 2012), I attach a copy for information.

May he rest in peace.

Nana

C.S.Nanayakkara

PERERA - DR MACC (KITTY) of Galle and retired GP of London, known as Max. Beloved father of Kamani, Amirthi, Amrik and Dheemati (London), father-in-law of Steve, Trevor and Patrick, loving grandfather of Pearl and Connie, loving brother of Dr Wilfred, late Rev. Father Mark and of Daisy, Rita, Newton and late Joe, expired on 8th June 2012. Cortege leaves residence 18/1, Station Road, Katukurunda, Kalutara on Sunday 10th June at 12.30 p.m. for service at St. Mary’s Cathedral, Galle at 3.00 p.m., followed by interment at General Cemetery, Dadalla. 150228  

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Dr Preena 
Date: 9 June 2012 02:00
Subject: Obituary notice-MACC PERERA
To: 1960 medical batch Colombo <1960batch@gmail.com>

Hi all

I read the Death notice of our batch mate MACC today in the daily news 9.6.12

For your information

Tony Preena

Dr.N.Murugananthan - Obituary

kasilingam saravanamuttu saravanamuttu@hotmail.com	13:44 (3 hours ago)
to me

---

Date: Thu, 7 Jun 2012 22:36:42 +0100

Subject: passing away of Dr.N.Murugananthan

From: panrajah23@gmail.com

To:

I am not quite sure whether some of you may have already heard the sad news  about the passing away of DrN.Murugananthan,

an old johnian and retired Psychiatrist(Liverpool).I have no other details and the funeral arrangements are yet to be decided

 For the benefit of those of you who have not got his home address and phone number I give them below

1,North Common Lodge , Hanger Lane, Ealing common,London W5 2EL  Phone(Home):0208 579 0937

Neelam/Neel(P.Rajah)

LawrenceRatnam@aol.com	13:47 (3 hours ago)
to me

Dear Philip

I had a message yesterday (Thursday) that Murugananthan regretfully passed away at 4.30p.m following a brief illness. (? Acute Leukaemia-)

I have since confirmed it with Neelam. Don't much details at the moment other than this.

Lawrence

Dr. Stella De Silva - Obituary

DE SILVA - DR. STELLA - Much loved sister of late C.P. De Silva, Gladys, Merryl, A.H. and Dr. L.B.; sister-in-law of late R.T. De Silva, Esme, Elsie and of Dr. Vineetha; loving aunt of Chinta, Kanthi, Chanaka, Anoma, Jayapriya, Premalal, Sunil, Dr. Nilendra, Sepalika, Dr. Rajiva, Needra, Nilanthi and Amendra, passed away peacefully. Cortege leaves residence 100/9, Horton Gardens, off Horton Place, Colombo 7 on Sunday 15th April 2012 at 4.00 p.m. Cremation at General Cemetery, Borella at 5 p.m. (Entrance from the Main Gate). 097509

Obituary - Dr. Siri Nannayakkara

Hi All

This is to inform you that our batch mate Siri Nanayakkara passed away following a breif illness on saturday 21/01/12 in Gisbourne New Zealand

Please circulate this information among our batch mates

Tony Preena

Dear Philip,

As I wrote to you a few days ago, Siri Nanayakkara passed away on 21^st January. Below is the notice being sent to New Zealand papers

Many will remember him for his good humoured pranks, particularly in the Block. My late wife Bella had been at the receiving end on many occasions.

I recall (though I don’t know how, through all that arrack) Siri and I had great fun doing a double-act at the Law Medical for three years

Individuals will carry different, but happy memories.

Siri was a single-handed GP in Gisborne, New Zealand and retired only an year or so ago. He was a dedicated family man

The home address is: 47 Hillview Terrace, Gisborne, New Zealand

Daughter’s emails: samvanhouts@gmail.com jeroen@vanhouts.com

Regards

Sunil

From: Samanthi van Houts [mailto:samvanhouts@gmail.com]
Sent: 23 January 2012 00:22
To: sunilpl@btconnect.com

Hi Uncle,

As discussed with Aunty here is the obituary we have sent in the NZ paper:

Nanayakkara, Kusuma Siri most loving and devoted husband of Swinitha; adored father of Dharsh, Shewanthi, Sam, Nic, Jeroen, + Jarod; much loved Seeya to Luke, Anneke, Elizabeth, Sebastian, and Mariella. Surrounded by his family peacefully walked with God & his angels as the sun rose on Saturday January 21st 2012. You will always be our darling. We are so lucky to have had you in our lives. We will always love and adore you.

Thank you for the emails and lovely poem, I havent read this yet, as I wanted to send the above to you without any further delay.

Thank you again uncle.

Obituary - Dr.G.Gunathilake

Hi Philip

It is likely that some of our batch mates may already have heard the sad news of the death of one of our batch mates- Dr G. Gunatillaka who passed away peacefully at home in Wadduwa, Sri Lanka.

Some of you may remember him and would have kept in touch with him as he was a popular GP practising in Wadduwa.

He was quiet but a sincere friend.

He was a 'Jewakite'- hosteller at Jeewaka Buddhist Medical Students hostel.

In December 2011, a group photograph was taken with him and few of his hotel mates at a wedding in Colombo.
I got these details( his obituary and a copy of the group photo) from a friend of mine.
Please share these details with our batch mates.

May he attain the eternal bliss of NIbbhana.

Regards

Nana

C.S.Nanayakkara
sena nanayakkara


GANGABODAGE - DR GUNATHILAKE (MBBS) Beloved husband of Chandra, father of Ishani and Dr Matheesha Gunathilake (UK), father-in-law of Avanthi and grandfather of Baby Saamya, brother of G. Wijedasa, G Wimalasiri, G. Jayasiri, G. Jayasena and G. Rathnapala, expired. Cortege leaves residence. No. 39, Moronthuduwa Road, Wadduwa at 4.30 p.m. Cremation at Pothupitiya, Waskaduwa at 5.00 p.m. on Sunday 8th January.