Appreciations

It was with great sadness that we learnt of the passing away of one of our favourite teachers of the Peradeniya Medical School. Professor Kirthi Sinha or "Kiththa" as he was fondly known to the students was, I would say, the most quoted teacher at Peradeniya, with the possible exception of the irrepressible H.D.W. Jansz.

The first two batches at Peradeniya (there was only a three months difference between the two) had just started clinical training when he arrived. Most of our teachers at the time were "leased" from the "Other Place" the faculty in Colombo. We were still part of the then University of Ceylon. We were used to the old fashioned method of taking down "Notes" (whatever we could gather!). To this milieu Professor Kirthi Sinha brought in a breath of fresh air. Young, handsome and dressed in an immaculate white suit with a belt at his waist and a somewhat mischievous smile, he seemed to us most unprofessor like.

At his first lecture as we took out our notebooks, he shouted “throw away your notebooks and your Bailey and Love”, "one is dead and the other with one foot in the grave", he would wryly say. Later on, he relented and said, "Ok you can use loose paper to copy down what you don't find in books. You can string them together with shoe lace". Even if we did not copy down anything else, we copied his famous "sayings", which are repeated even today, so many years later. Whenever Peradeniya Doctors meet, some of them come to mind.

"The Golden Rules of Surgery"

1) Any fool can learn surgery
2) Common things are common
3) What are X-rays? Shadows taken in a dark room! He used to dig into us the importance of a clinical examination rather than depend on too much investigation. 4) When Surgeons do heroic surgery the patient is the hero.

I used to often ponder on this last truism as I worked with my surgical colleagues over the years. He was no great admirer or advocate of private practice. His cryptic quote "Many a Rolls Royce moves on a lily white appendix", sums up his opinion more than adequately.

One day as he came to the lecture he wrote on the board "KKT for ADT" (Ko Katath Thailaya for Any Damned Thing – the Sri Lankan habit of using oils for various ailments!).

All this did not detract from the fact, that by then he had already earned his reputation as a teacher of excellence. Invited by the reputed publishers, Churchill-Livingstone, he authored the Pocket Book of Surgery. The companion volumes in Medicine and in Obstetrics and Gynaecology were authored by the then Professor of Medicine, University of Oxford and John Clayton, later President of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. No greater compliment could have been paid to his pedigree as a teacher.

In these early days as the two faculties, Colombo and Peradeniya were affiliated to the University of Ceylon, exams were common and so were the examiners. I remember the Colombo students had reams and reams of notes in surgery. We had only Kiththa's "sayings" in our note books! However, we did equally well at the final exam. He actually organized a picnic for his students at the Peradeniya Gardens at the weekend before the final exam.

We, his former students, now in retirement, scattered in all parts of the globe, never fail to recall his "quotes" whenever we meet. We have never forgotten the principles of surgery he taught us, which had been our strength throughout our medical careers. He was such a unique personality. He showed us a new way of looking at things. I would say that he, more than anyone else, represented the fresh spirit of the Peradeniya Medical School.

I remember when a group of us went up to him to get permission to attend the funeral of the father of one of the students, he tried his best to dissuade us and then finally gave his consent, only on condition that we would never attend his funeral. By strange irony, we were compelled to comply with this request as by default, as he passed away in England and we were unable to be there.

An unforgettable teacher and his unforgettable sayings