The Government of Sri Lanka decided in 1977 to start more medical faculties to overcome the shortage of medical professionals in this country. This was great news for Jaffna. The University of Jaffna got the approval to begin work on the Medical Faculty and to enroll the first batch of nearly around 75 Tamil students. The University authorities were tasked with the finding of a location and organising the Faculty within a very short space of time. The new Ayurvedic College building in Kaithady was chosen as the temporary location. The late Prof. A.A.Hoover (Biochemistry) was appointed as the first Dean of this Faculty. He set to work immediately and organised lectures and the facility in a short time. We remember and thank him for his great work. He also simplified Biochemistry for us. Mr.Sivanathan, former Director of Education, Jaffna was the first Registrar of this Medical Faculty.
We were blessed with a number of committed and experienced teachers from other medical faculties. Some of them stayed with the faculty for a long time and served with dedication like Prof.Parameswaren, Prof. Sivapalan, Prof. Sivasuriya, Prof. Sivagnanasundaram, Dr.Sivarajah, Dr.(Mrs.)Ganeshamoorthy, Prof. and Dr. (Mrs.) Saravanapavananthan, Prof. Balasubramanium, Prof. Sreeharan and many others. They carried through with their commitments during the most difficult times of the Faculty. For that we salute them. None of us will ever forget Prof. N.Shreeharan as he brought us excellence in clinical medicine knowledge and some of us still carry his concise notes!. Many others teachers contributed their best to the faculty. Prof. Karunainathan, Drs. Ampikapathy, Sathiyanathan, Chandrakumar, Naveenan, Dr. and Dr.(Mrs.)Varman, Dr.Narenthiranathan, Dr.Nagewaran, Dr.and Dr.(Mrs.)Vetpillai, Prof Ramadas and Mrs.Ramadas are some of them. We really appreciate and acknowledge their timely contributions to the Faculty.
With limited resources and lots of hardships we began our journey. But we were proud to be the first batch of medical students prepared to face the challenges in Jaffna. We, a mix of students from various parts of Sri Lanka shared hardships and made our way through. Kaithady is a quiet and extremely conservative village. It took a while for the people to accept the Faculty and our presence there. Initially, finding accommodation in Kaithady was extremely difficult. So, most of us travelled from other places. Some rented houses and made these into hostels. Sarvodhayam is a good example for those of us who remember this place! This little lonely house in front of the Faculty is a living reminder of our fun.
With limited books in the library and limited equipment in the lab, our teachers helped us learn by improvising. At the beginning, we were really short of cadavers for dissection and four groups worked on each limb at one time, but surely we learnt our Anatomy. While having fun, we kept the University administration accountable to ensure that they built the actual Medical Faculty as promised in Thirunelvely on time. We had protest marches and shramadanas among other things to get work done on this building. We are proud that the building is now complete and the trees we planted 40 years ago, now greatly beautify the scene at the Faculty. In this, we remember the late Prof. Vithiyananthan for keeping his commitment. We also remember our best clinical teaching staff at the Jaffna Hospital who taught us with dedication. We are proud that our presence raised the profile of the hospital to Jaffna Teaching Hospital. This hospital continues its great services to our community in spite of all the difficulties. During our clinical years this hospital had the complete cadre of the best clinical staff in all the departments. We also remember Dr. Gunanantham for his extra tutorials.
Many of us never thought about leaving our land in the mid eighties period. But one way or other, we are working in foreign countries. With the solid foundation we received in spite of all the hardship, most of us are able to compete with foreign nationals and come up in life. Many even hold prestigious faculty positions and pursue teaching in foreign climes. The initial problems with GMC recognition put us through hardship and frustration. Anyway we are now happy that because of this many of us made our way to North America/ Australia and New Zealand. Of course there are many who overcame these difficulties in the UK and are successfully practising there.
We are proud to call ourselves the pioneers of the Jaffna Medical Faculty batch. We remember, salute and thank all of those who helped us and guided us in the process. We remember and really appreciate our colleagues who committed to stay and work in Sri Lanka like Dr.Pathmalogini K. and many others who dedicated their life to serve the neediest in the North-East. In this, we remember one of our great colleagues Dr. Ganesharatnam who lost his life in this process. Dr.Ganeshan, Dr.Mahaboob, Dr.Sutharsan, Dr.Mariyathas and Dr.Nanthini also sadly departed recently.
I am delighted to recapture these memories on this special occasion after 40 long years. Forgive me, if I have missed out on any other important information/persons. Let’s unite and pledge our support to continue the good work at the Jaffna Medical Faculty.
This year when our batch is celebrating 40 years of graduation as medical doctors, a grand reunion is planned at the Jetwing Beach Hotel in Negombo from August 3-5, and more than 30 batchmates and their spouses are expected to attend. This is indeed remarkable, as all of us are now more than three score years and ten in age. Some of us are meeting for the first time after 10 years less than half a century and we are looking forward to a fun-filled weekend. The action-packed program includes a Grand Reunion Dinner Dance on Saturday night and an outing on Sunday morning.
This has been made possible due to the hardworking organising committee, ably coordinated by super-efficient Dr. V. Vigneswaran with Dr.M. I. M. Ziyard.