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| He
died where he loved to live Dr. Sanjeewa Ranwella, an extraordinary medical man in that he campaigned fearlessly for patients’ rights while being equally super active in the field of environmental conservation, had even written a book regarding the vertebrates of Bolgoda's south lake where he, his doctor wife Kamani, their 13-month old baby boy and a nature- loving friend from the university were drowned on Wednesday afternoon. One of Dr. Ranwella's projects was to curb the dumping of saw dust in the Bolgola Lake and on that fateful Wednesday he and the other five plus the baby had set out on the boat for a similar purpose. Doctors Sanjeewa and Kamani were members of an environmental group involved in the protection of forna and flora. Friends and colleagues recall numerous instances when any stray dog, animal or bird found injured in the area would be tenderly taken by him, well treated and then set free in a sanctuary or to a kind hearted caretaker. So extraordinary was his desire for all beings to be happy that even poisonous or deadly snakes were saved by his mercy. Many were the insatances where polongas, pythons or Russel’s Vipers which otherwise would have been killed were taken by Dr. Ranwella, defanged and looked after till he could take them in a bag and set them free in places like Yala or Wilpattu. On the medical front, he was a follower of the hallowed principles of Professor Senaka Bibile and campaigned courageously for the recreation of a health service model where the well being of a patient was given priority. As the pioneer and first president of the Colombo Medical Faculty Students Involved in Rational Health Action (SIRHA) he was in the forefront of the campaign to provide quality drugs at affordable prices and sometimes even free. He also ran free clinics for pregnant women while serving full time as MOH in Panadura. According to what was said at the inquest, the Ranwella family and the environmental group were to go to Sri Pada but because of the bad weather they had decided to meet in Bolgoda to discuss their work, unaware that it would be a tryst with destiny from which four would not return. The Ranwella's were joined by Chamara Senaratne, a lecturer at the Sri Jayawardenapura University, his wife Madhavi, Anushka Kumarasinghe (23) and Lasith Gayan Perera, an employee of Nine Hearts Studio. Lasith was also among those drowned. On the fateful day Anushka Kumarasinghe and Gayan Lasith Perera had visited Chamara Senaratne's residence at Katubedda. Thereafter they had proceeded to Dr. Ranwella's residence in Panadura. They had decided to visit a lakeside bungalow owned by Dr. Tilak Karunaratne, Dr. Ranwella's uncle, to discuss their work. "We held a dialogue for about half an hour and then decided to have a bath. Thereafter Dr. Ranwella suggested that we have take a boat ride. Chamara Senaratne was rowing the boat (goda oruwa). We were riding the boat in a very shallow area and then went into the deep. I saw Dr. Ranwella stretching out to handover the infant to his wife when the boat toppled," survivor Anushka Kumarasinghe said. "When the boat toppled, Gayan got on to my shoulder, but soon fell off because I too went under water. When I came up I only saw Chamara and Madhavi. We shouted and a person plucking flowers close by came rushed to our rescue," he said. According to Chamara they were first riding in shallow waters, so much so that the oar was striking the ground. But later they entered deep waters where the unthinkable happened. Vincent Peiris, 53 who rescued three people told the inquest at the coroner’s court that he was plucking flowers by boat for Vesak Poya. "When I was plucking flowers I heard someone screaming for help. I rushed there, saw three people and told them to hold on to my boat while I rowed ashore. After that they told me there were four others and rushing back I found two others who appeared to be unconscious," the boatman said. The unconscious Kamani and Lasith were pronounced dead while the bodies of Dr. Ranwella and his baby child were found later by villagers and Navy divers who were called in. Lasith Perera, an old Nalandian employed as a Customer Relations Executive at Nine Hearts Pvt Ltd, had celebrated his 23rd birthday the previous day. His funeral took place yesterday while the funerals of Dr. Ranwella, his wife and child took place in Panadura on Friday. The legacy and example left behind by wonderful human beings like Sanjeeva Ranwella would include his Sinhala translation of a monumental volume titled “Your Health Is In Your Hands” intended to empower the rural poor especially to look after their own health. Sanjeewa's friend and close colleague Novil Wijesekera who took over leadership of SIRHA said that while they would deeply miss his friend the work for which he gave his life would go on. |
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