Death of country's most distinguished nursing educationist

MRS. CHANDRA de Silva, the county's most distinguished nursing educationist and Senior Lecturer and Consultant at the Open University of Sri Lanka, died on Saturday, January 28 at the Recovery Unit of the National Hospital, Colombo, after a three week battle against complications in the aftermath of surgery for the removal of a kidney. Wife of retired senior civil servant PLN (Newton) de Silva, she was 75 years old.

Mrs. de Silva who obtained her BSc (Hons) in Nursing from Delhi University and an MSc in Education from Boston University, USA, had the unique record of having served the nursing profession in Sri Lanka for 50 years.

Among the numerous awards she received was one "in appreciation of the invaluable service to the nursing profession and the pioneering work rendered to the nursing education of the Open University of Sri Lanka from its inception to-date".

At its Convocation in 1997, Athabasca University, Canada awarded Mrs. de Silva a plaque "in appreciation of her outstanding service to Nursing Education and to the BSc (N) programme at the Open University of Sri Lanka."

Mrs. De Silva's most cherished contribution was made in the decade 1993-2003 as Senior Lecturer and Co-ordinator of the BSc special degree nursing programme at the Open University of Sri Lanka.

She established the Nursing Unit at the Open University and Played a major role in the establishment and development of BSc Nursing degree course at the same university, while proceeding to develop Course books for the degree programme.

She was married for 48 years to Newton de Silva, who retired as Senior Assistant Secretary to the Ministry of Rehabilitation. She was the mother of twin daughters - Mihiri, a doctor and microbiologist at the University of Missouri, and Sanja, chartered secretary and accountant with GlaxoSmithKline, UK.

Chandra de Silva continued her daily work at the Open University as senior lecturer and senior consultant to the nursing programme, until recently. Her funeral takes place at the General Cemetery, Borella at 5 p.m. today (Monday).