Interview: Professor Lalitha Mendis - Faculty of Medicine, University ...

InterviewInterview: Professor Lalitha MendisNaveen Jayawardena, Manu Wimalachandra and Ruwanthi SeneviratneVidyajyothi Professor Lalitha Mendis, President ofthe SLMA, former Dean of the Faculty ofMedicine, Colombo and former Director of thePostgraduate Institute of Medicine, Colombo is aneminent personality who is much loved andrespected by all in the field of Medicine. Indeed,she needs no further introduction. A devotedteacher as well as a loving mother, she shares herviews on current trends in Medicine, work in SriLanka, experiences as young doctor and herpersonal experiences of family life.Childhood experiencesWhen reminiscing about her childhood, ProfessorMendis speaks of her parents with great affection.Her father was a dedicated school principal andher mother was a teacher. “They were both verywidely read people”, she says. “Our house was fullof books.” What helped her was not the fact thatthey were teachers, but that they taught her goodvalues.Speaking of her mother, Professor Mendis says,“She was like an English scholar. She taught us thelove of literature and music, not to pass exams, butto appreciate them”. As a child, she and herbrother were always encouraged by their father toargue with him and there were heated debates athome. During their school holidays, they weretaken by their father to the courts to observe thecourt cases, which also added a lot to theirchildhood experiences.Life as a Medical StudentReminiscing about her student days, she recallshow she had to undergo an interview beforeentering Medical College. Professor Mendis feelsthat some sort of aptitude test besides theAdvanced Level examination is necessary to makesure that the most suitable candidates enter theprofession. “Medicine is a vocation, it is not likeany other job, you have to be prepared to servewith care and compassion. Every human being inthis world is not capable of serving withcompassion and care, and it is best that the peoplewho you select for medicine have that quality inthem”. She says that it is not impossible, citingexamples from certain Indian Universities and ourvery own Faculty of Architecture of the Universityof Moratuwa.Early days as a doctorProfessor Lalitha Mendis‟ first seven years as ayoung doctor were spent in Kuliyapitiya andMawathagama working as a house officer and aMedical Officer of Health respectively. She recallsthose days with fond memories, where she had theopportunity to serve the people at a very personallevel. The innocent appreciation shown by thepeople towards her service was her reward and issomething that she will cherish for a lifetime. “Alldoctors should take the opportunity to go to theperiphery and serve the rural poor, after all 85% ofour population is considered rural and this townliving is unreal: it is not Sri Lanka”.Working in Sri LankaProfessor Mendis, on completion of her postgraduate studies in the United Kingdom decided tosettle down in Sri Lanka. Her primary reason fordoing so was to take care of her parents who wereliving in Sri Lanka. Her second reason was thatshe, together with her husband felt that they had anobligation towards serving the country they wereborn in to, and provided them with a freeeducation. Professor Mendis is very firm in herview that students should value the free educationreceived in Sri Lanka and should give back to thecountry something in return.02