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Blend of the usual & the unusual at CCP sessions
Prof. Chandanie Wanigatunge
The usual with the unusual is what will come under the spotlight as physicians from Sri Lanka and across the seas meet for a two-day high-level session next Friday and Saturday.
Everything has been planned and is on course for the 52nd Anniversary Academic Sessions, the highlight of the calendar of the Ceylon College of Physicians (CCP), from September 12-14, at the Galadari Hotel, Colombo. The sessions are being held in collaboration with the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, United Kingdom (UK).
Dr. Sinha Raja Tammita-Delgoda
The CCP, the oldest speciality college in Sri Lanka, is the umbrella under which physicians from all specialities and sub-specialities linked to ‘Internal Medicine’ and paediatricians, psychiatrists and pathologists gather.
This year’s sessions with the theme of ‘Beyond knowledge, Across boundaries, Towards holistic care’ all for the benefit of the patient will be a time for them to meet, share ideas, brainstorm, acquire and enhance knowledge and also renew or establish new friendships.
While the Chief Guest is the interesting choice of a non-medical expert Dr. SinhaRaja Tammita-Delgoda, historian, art historian, academic and writer, the Guest-of-Honour is Prof. Derek Bell, President of the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh. Sixty eminent resource persons including 18 from abroad will guide the programme.
“There is a need to look beyond the knowledge that we have in our possession as physicians as well as cross boundaries around us not only within Sri Lanka but also beyond our shores. This will help us to take into account our own concepts, social norms and beliefs which are based on our culture, traditions and religions while practising our profession effectively,” says the President of the CCP, Prof. Chandanie Wanigatunge who is at the helm of the sessions.
She says that physicians are healers who practise their craft within the religious, cultural and societal nuances of the society they live in. The Science of Medicine is both challenged and enhanced by these nuances and require them as physicians, at times, to go beyond their comfort zones. This is especially true when they try to apply some of the western concepts to people who have different cultural and social values.
Prof. Derek Bell
“This is why a physician should be sensitive to the cultural, societal and at times religious overtures that may have an impact on the management plan developed for the patient. Then and only then can we provide truly holistic care,” adds Prof. Wanigatunge.
The tightly-packed programme of the sessions includes four pre-congress sessions, six plenaries and 12 symposia.
The CCP Oration on ‘Chronic Kidney Disease of unknown aetiology in Sri Lanka: unravelling the mystery’ will be delivered by Prof. Kamani Wanigasuriya.
The piece de resistance, meanwhile, will be ‘Then they came for me: the many facets of medical negligence’ where cases will be discussed at length by an eminent panel comprising Dr. Clifford Perera and Prof. Narada Warnasuriya from the medical profession and Saliya Pieris, President’s Counsel, and Senior State Counsel from the Attorney General’s Department, Dr. Avanti Perera, from the legal fraternity.
While the sessions will cover the usual aspects of non-communicable diseases (NCDs); the illness of the Dry Zone farmer, Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) of unknown aetiology and others such as tuberculosis (TB), the subterranean infection of melioidosis as well as critical care and palliative care, there will also be a focus on some unusual topics.
They include:
n Data sharing, confidentiality & autonomy – a series of oxymorons? by Dr. Ed Neville of the UK.
n Asymptomatic elevation of hepatic transaminases by Prof. Janaka de Silva.
n Dying: different for different diseases and different cultures by Prof. Scott Murray of the UK.
n Vitamin D myths & facts related to the ‘Sunshine Vitamin’ by Prof. Sarath Lekamwasam.
n Re-injecting the Human into Medicine – ‘A history of Western Medicine in 20 minutes’ by Dr. Panduka Karunanayake; ‘Narrative Medicine: unravelling and connecting with the stories of life’ by Dr. Mevan Wijetunge; and ‘Where there is love of art, there is love of medicine’ by Dr. Shehan Silva.