Saturday, June 28, 2014

Re 1960 entrants batch reunion in June 2015.

email from

Jay Summit
2:55 AM (2 hours ago)

Dear Duru, Kappa, Phillip,
         
I too have a few suggestions
1. I agree we need to agree on a date soon, so that everyone who wishes to come can make plans. I agree a definite date in June or July appears to be the best option for most
2. I saw the comment that the prices and rates maybe too much for some who still would like to be there, and I wonder what you as the organizers, and the general membership, would think about a 10% surcharge on the physicians working or living outside Sri-Lanka, to give a 25-30% discount discreetly to Sri-Lankan physicians and spouses living and worked/working, in Sri-Lanka  who request discount tickets.    This probably will be the last major get-together for our group, and it probably could be nice if we do not have to leave out anyone because of circumstances

3. I would think it is a great idea, if everybody including non-physician spouses, are given and strongly encouraged to wear, name bands on their upper front dress, with their first and last names, the AKA we used in the batch, and current location city and country. The letters should be big enough to be easily readable within 6 ft.  I do not know about the rest of you but I can hardly see, barely hear, struggle to walk, and often cannot remember whether I had my breakfast or not, or the last person I was introduced to. I can still smell food esp. when I am hungry, and still like to pretend to dance (good music makes my legs move on their own). The thought processes are best left unspoken

Friday, June 27, 2014

Care of the dying.

A Dailymail.co.uk article

Families must get a say on 'dying' patients' care: Victory for the Mail in aftermath of Liverpool Care Pathway scandal

They said loved ones must be 'involved in decisions' in NHS hospitals to ensure the 'horrific' abuses and 'tick-box' culture created by the discredited Liverpool Care Pathway never happen again.

Full Story:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2670036/Families-say-dying-patients-care-Victory-Mail-aftermath-Liverpool-Care-Pathway-scandal.html

A long way home.

A Dailymail.co.uk article

 Remarkable tale of Indian boy who was accidentally transported 1,000 miles from home aged four and found his way back 25 years later thanks to Google Earth

Saroo Brierley from Hobart, Australia, was just another poor boy growing up in rural India, until he accidentally leapt aboard a train that took him a thousand miles away to a strange city.

Full Story:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2669552/A-long-way-home-Remarkable-tale-Indian-boy-accidentally-transported-1-000-miles-home-aged-four-way-25-years-later-thanks-Google-Earth.html


First female medical students, Ceylon.


Ceylon Administrative Reports 1891 A 15.
‘In anticipation of the admission of female medical students 
the Government authorized ‘a separate Dissecting Room 


for females and separate tutors and a reading room’

Ceylon Examiner May 2nd 1892-
“'The medical College opens its summer sessions today. 
Two young ladies Misses Keyt and Davidson – will be admitted 
as students for the first time in the history of the College’.

Veronica Weerasekara & Rachel Christoffelsz, were female 
medicos in later years. Veronica’s reminiscences:-
Dr.Chalmers was the Registrar.
The teachers were – Dr.S.C. Paul, Dr.Frank Grenier, Dr.Sinnathamby,
Dr.Garvin and Dr.H.M. Fernando.

Seniors lined up and whistled when the female medical students passed by.

Pranks – Cutting the afternoon lecture and going by train 
to the ‘Pagoda’ restaurant. (The 'Pagoda' was still in existence in the 1960s)

Occasional boat ride in the harbour during lecture time - 
This was in the time of the old jetty opposite the Grand Oriental Hotel.

Teasing and comments by the male medicos:-

'Veronica sweet as the morning air,
  Do not leave me in despair’.
  ‘Rachel Chris dear charming Miss,
  Your lips to kiss it’l be a bliss.

The above incidents are related in the book "Dr. Alice de Boer and some 
pioneer Burgher women doctors' by Deloraine Brohier

Click on the web-link below to read the original article.



Thursday, June 26, 2014

Women Doctors - 1885


 email from Gallege De Silva
29 May
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Three amazing women.


The three women pictured in this incredible photograph from 1885 -- Anandibai Joshi of India, Keiko Okami of Japan, and Sabat Islambouli of Syria -- each became the first licensed female doctors in their respective countries. The three were students at the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania; one of the only places in the world at the time where women could study medicine.

As Mallika Rao writes in HuffPost, "If the timing doesn't seem quite right, that's understandable. In 1885, women in the U.S. still couldn't vote, nor were they encouraged to learn very much. Popular wisdom decreed that studying was a threat to motherhood." Given this, how did three women from around the world end up studying there to become doctors? The credit, according to Christopher Woolf of PRI's The World, goes to the Quakers who "believed in women’s rights enough to set up the WMCP way back in 1850 in Germantown.”

Woolf added, "It was the first women’s medical college in the world, and immediately began attracting foreign students unable to study medicine in their home countries. First they came from elsewhere in North America and Europe, and then from further afield. Women, like Joshi in India and Keiko Okami in Japan, heard about WMCP, and defied expectations of society and family to travel independently to America to apply, then figure out how to pay for their tuition and board... . Besides the international students, it also produced the nation’s first Native American woman doctor, Susan LeFlesche, while African Americans were often students as well. Some of whom, like Eliza Grier, were former slaves."


Why teachers drink.

email from Gallege De Silva

29 May

The following questions were set in last year's GED examination
These are genuine answers (from 16-year-olds).  
These people will be voting in a few years!!
 
Q. Name the four seasons
A. Salt, pepper, mustard and vinegar
 
Q. How is dew formed
A. The sun shines down on the leaves and makes them perspire
 
Q. What guarantees may a mortgage company insist on
A. If you are buying a house they will insist that you are well endowed
 
Q. In a democratic society, how important are elections
A. Very important. Sex can only happen when a male gets an election
 
Q. What are steroids
A. Things for keeping carpets still on the stairs
    (Shoot yourself now, there is little hope)
 
Q. What happens to your body as you age
A. When you get old, so do your bowels and you get intercontinental
 
Q. What happens to a boy when he reaches puberty
A. He says goodbye to his boyhood and looks forward to his adultery (So true)
 
Q. Name a major disease associated with cigarettes
A. Premature death
 
Q. What is artificial insemination
A. When the farmer does it to the bull instead of the cow
 
Q. How can you delay milk turning sour
A. Keep it in the cow
    (Simple, but brilliant)nd: white;" class="yiv0027857196ecxMsoNormal">    (Simple, but brilliant)
 
Q. How are the main 20 parts of the body categorized 
(e.g. The abdomen)
A. The body is consisted into 3 parts - the brainium, 
the borax and the abdominal cavity.  The brainium 
contains the brain, the borax contains the heart and 
lungs and the abdominal cavity contains the five bowels: A,E,I,O,U
 
Q. What is the fibula?
A. A small lie
 
Q. What does 'varicose' mean?
A. Nearby
 
Q. What is the most common form of birth control
A. Most people prevent contraception by wearing a condominium
    (That would work)
 
Q. Give the meaning of the term 'Caesarean section'
A. The caesarean section is a district in Rome
 
Q. What is a seizure?
A. A Roman Emperor.
    (Julius Seizure, I came, I saw, I had a fit)
 
Q. What is a terminal illness
A. When you are sick at the airport.
    (Irrefutable)
 
Q. What does the word 'benign' mean?
A. Benign is what you will be after you be eight
    (brilliant)
 
Q. What is a turbine?
A. Something an Arab or Shriek wears on his head. 
Once a Arab boy reaches puberty, he removes his diaper 
and wraps it around his head.
(now we are getting somewhere)

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Different professions … Different Instruction/expression ... could they carry the same meaning?

email from Kamalini Kanapathippillai.
Doctor:                       "Please take off your clothes."

Dentist:                      "Now open wide and hold still " 

Veterinarian:                 "How's your pretty pussy ?"

 Gardener:            "Want me to fertilize your bush ?"

 Lawyer:              "Let's go over section 69."

Banker:                       "If you withdraw too early you lose interest."

Chef:                         "Do you like it hot and spicy.?"

Police:                       "You don't need protection."

Army personnel:       "Load. Aim. Fire."

Swimming instructor: "Go deeper."

Gym trainer:          "Push harder".

Interior Decorator:   "Once it’s done, you will love it."

Telephone Guy :        "Would you like it on the table or against the wall !!

Teacher :                       “Don't  worry, you can do it all over again.”