Asoka Weerasekara - Obituary

Dear Philip

In case some of you had not seen this appreciation in the Sunday Times ( Sri Lanka) dated, 18th Sunday October, I would like this to be shared amongst our batch mates for their information.

Regards

Nana

Kurunegala will fondly remember the ‘bodhisaththa dhosthara mahaththaya’ Dr. W. M. A. E. Weerasekera Dr. W. M. A. E. Weerasekera was a good, dedicated and caring physician who would not accept money from the poor. Friends and relatives called him Asoka. Educated at Ananda College, he obtained his MBBS in Sri Lanka and worked in peripheral hospitals for a few years before proceeding to the UK for further studies, accompanied by his wife, son and daughter. After specialising in otolaryngology or ENT (ear, nose and throat), he returned to Sri Lanka and was posted to the Kurunegala base hospital as the ENT surgeon. The people of Kurunegala and Dambulla called him “Bodhisaththa Dosthara Mahaththaya”. Even after retirement, he continued to visit Kurunegala to see his patients. During his time in Kurunegala, Dr. Weerasekera devised a process to help people who had undergone a certain neck operation after consuming poison or being bitten by a venomous snake. Because such patients find breathing and eating solids difficult, an opening is made in the neck. As long as the opening is there, the patient’s voice is unclear. When the patient wants to speak, he has to cover the opening with a finger to make himself heard. The doctor applied a stent (or tube) to the affected part, secured with a stainless steel wire. This allowed the patient to speak normally. Dr. Weerasekera demonstrated his unique medical procedure at the South Asia Regional Conference (SARC) of ENT surgeons held in Nepal a few years ago. Why this unique system has not been adopted in this country is anybody’s guess. At the age of 72, Dr. Weerasekera was struck by the dreaded disease that everyone fears. As someone who moved very closely with Dr. Weerasekera, I find his loss very hard to bear. Our deepest sympathies go to his ever-loving wife Prema, son Asantha, daughter Himani, daughter-in-law Mellisa, and his grandchildren. Dr. Asoka Weerasekera, may your journey through Sansara be short, and may you achieve the ultimate goal of Nirvana in the shortest possible time. Bandula

A book co-authored by Lakshman Karalliedda

Public health manual scoops book prize

11 September 2009

AN INDISPENSABLE guide to toxicology, prepared by Health Protection Agency and King's College London staff, has won a top book award.

The Essentials of Toxicology for Health Protection: a handbook for field professionals was published in September 2008 by the HPA and was aimed at health protection consultants, public health specialists, environmental health scientists, emergency services, workers in the water and waste industries and other industrial and regulatory bodies.

Put together by the HPA's chemicals and poisons experts in partnership with colleagues from specialist organisations, the idea was to provide an introduction to toxicology as well as how to apply it in real world acute and chronic chemical incidents.

And now the book has been awarded first prize in the Public Health category at the BMA Medical Book of the Year Awards 2009.

Prof Virginia Murray, a Medical Toxicology Consultant and a co-editor of the book who heads up the HPA's chemicals and poisons London team, said: "Competition in this category was fierce and we are delighted to have won.

"This handbook would never have been completed without the dedication and commitment of all the authors and contributors. I am grateful for their thoroughly professional, expert approach to writing a vital handbook that, as the BMA judges said, 'filled a much needed niche perfectly.'

"I am very proud to be part of such a great team of enthusiastic and talented toxicologists and scientists."

A reviewer in the BMA award programme booklet described the HPA publication as an 'ideal general introduction' to public health and health protection and praised its layout.

Justin McCracken, Chief Executive of the Health Protection Agency, said: "It is an honour to have won this prestigious award and we are very proud of our team's achievement."

Notes to Editors

• The book is available to buy through the HPA website. Visit http://www.hpa.org.uk/HPA/Publications/BookshopItems/ for details.
• The Chemical Hazards and Poisons Division is part of the Health Protection Agency's Centre for Radiation, Chemical and Environmental Hazards.
• The annual BMA Medical Book of the Year Awards were held on Tuesday evening in London and prizes were handed out in 26 categories.
• For more information contact Matthew Pardo on 01235 822745.
  

Last reviewed: 11 September 2009

1963 photo - Guess who?

Letter from Tissa Kappagoda, Editor Souvenir for 2010 reunion.

Dear Everyone,

Next July we plan to meet in Sri Lanka to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of our entry into the medical faculty. It is reasonable to pause and ask, “What precisely are we hoping to celebrate?” Although there is much we would like to forget, all of us have been granted a unique opportunity to use our knowledge and expertise to benefit others and that is a gift granted to only a few in each generation. Our triumphs and failures have contributed in equal measure to our lives within the profession and outside it.

On behalf of the organizing committee of the anniversary celebration, I would like to invite you to record some of these experiences for posterity. We plan to compile an anthology of your essays for publication. It is anticipated that the book will be released in time for the reunion in July.

Please send your contributions to me at ctkappagoda@ucdavis.edu. Alternate email address ctkappagoda@hotmail.com. Each article should be in #10 Arial font and no more that 10 pages in length including photographs. I would appreciate receiving the manuscript by the end of January 2010.

Yours sincerely,

Tissa Kappagoda

Letter from Buddy

Hello all,
I fully agree with Dawood. With the programme being tight, I suppose the sight seeing time could be used by the con chatters to stay back and have a good time together.
Buddy

Letter from Dawood

Nana,
I give below a line from your note to Phillip posted on the batch website.

"Karals, Dawood and I had a wonderful time gossiping about the good old days."

Having read the amended program, not much time has been allowed for this most enjoyable aspect of meetups.

A few hours for fellowship and "conchats" , would be most enjoyable. For people to circulate, with drink in hand , giving handshakes and hugs and being chivalrous and complimenting the girls who now are grandmas or higher, before hitting the pillow sated and tipsy
Also the youthful batchmates like yourself could keep the participants regaled talking about old times and escapades.
I thoroughly enjoyed our meeting at Carluccio's.
Just a suggestion
--
Best Regards
Dawood

Programme for the batch get-together in 2010

A meeting of the Colombo branch of the organizing committee for the 2010 batch get-together, was held on 2/10/2009 at the house of Durumila.

The following were present;-

1. Dr.Sarath Kapuwaththe.

2. Dr.Durumila Kumara.

3. Dr.Ranjini Thearapperuma.

4. Dr.Ranjan Fernando.

5. Dr.C.S.Nannayakkara.

6. Dr.Philip G Veerasingam.

The following decisions were arrived at:-

1. A correction of the dates for the reunion was made for 2^nd and 3^rd July (Friday and Saturday) 2010.

Those who have already made a booking at Keels, would have their dates already readjusted by Durumila.

2. The costing for the get-together was as follows:-

Beds	Cost for full board per day	Cost for half board per
Single	Rs.10,500/=	Rs. 9,500/=
Double	Rs. 12,500/=	Rs.11,000/=
Triple	Rs. 15,000/=	Rs. 14,500/=

Gala dinner on Saturday 3^rd July will cost an additional Rs. 2500/= each.

Extra lunch will cost Rs. 1400/= each.

3. Bookings:-

A non-refundable deposit of Rs.5000/= should be paid in advance per person, to confirm a booking. This booking should be done by 30/11/2009.

Please contact your area coordinator to pay your advance for the bookings.

Dr.CSNannayakkara(csn48@aol.com) for UK

Dr.Buddy Reid (buddygreid@hotmail.com) for Australia

Dr.Tissa Kappagoda (ctkappagoda@hotmail.com) & Dr.H. Piyasena

(hipiyasena@bellsouth.net) for USA.

Please note that even now there is a high occupancy rate of hotels (84%) in Colombo. This is bound to increase by the 2^nd and 3^rd July 2010.

4. The programme:-

2^nd July 2010 (Friday)

10am – Registration

1pm - Lunch

2-7pm - Sight seeing – Dambulla, Minneriya, Ritigala, .....

7pm - Remembering those batch mates who have passed away.

Concert

Dinner & 'Bajow' (‘Paduru party).

3^rd July 2010 (Saturday)

7.30 – Breakfast

8.30am to 10am – Group photo

11am to 1pm – Clinical sessions.

2pm to 7pm - Sight seeing.

8pm – Gala dinner

Sing song.

4^th July 2010 (Sunday)

7.30 Breakfast.

11 am - Vacate hotel.

5. Articles for the souvenir – Please send in your contributions to the editor Dr.Tissa Kappagoda before 31^st March 2010.

6. A list of our batch-mates resident in Sri Lanka to be compiled.

7. Update

8. The list of emails of batch-mates. Please send us the email addresses of any of our batch mates that you have so that we could bring our records upto date.

9. A trip to Trincomalee could be done from Dambulla after the get together, by arrangement with Keels, on an individual basis. This could be done after the get together is over on the 4^th July 2010.