Dr P.R. Anthonis - A personal tribute
I came to know Dr P.R. Anthonis when I was a Medical Student in the
mid-sixties. Although an extremely busy surgeon, he always found the
time to teach us. Later in 1967 I was his intern medical officer for six
months. The period of internship was hectic and we were kept extremely
busy. He gave a lot of responsibility to the house officers who
responded to the hilt.
There were many VIPs in the paying wards but Dr. Anthonis gave the
same attention to the patients in the non-paying wards as well. During
this period it became very evident to me that he was an energetic and
technically competent surgeon and teacher/tutor who claimed that work
“refreshed” him. This was perhaps the secret of his longevity.
Once an attendant came to him and asked him for a few hundred rupees
on the grounds that his mother had died. I was bemused when Dr. Anthonis
gave him half the money and asked him to keep it. I asked him whether he
believed the attendant’s story and his reply was that he did not, but to
have said that his mother had died perhaps indicated a dire need of the
money and moreover, the mother cannot die twice! Such was his wisdom in
mundane matters.
On another occasion I was assisting him in the operating theatre,
when a doctor came from the adjoining theatre and whispered something in
his ear. He immediately went to the next theatre and returned after
about 10 minutes. He did not tell us why he was called and carried on
with the surgery. When I went to lunch, I met the surgical registrar who
was in the next theatre.
He told me that his “boss” (a well-known budding surgeon) was
performing a cholecystectomy (removal of the gall bladder) and had
damaged an artery which resulted in the abdominal cavity rapidly filling
with blood. The young surgeon had panicked when he could not locate the
bleeding point in the pool of blood and had called for assistance. His
humility and greatness were manifest in that he kept it to himself,
without embarrassing his junior colleague. “Never kick a fallen dog!”
was one of his mottos. I have watched him single handedly place
fledgling surgeons on sound footings.
The HOPE ship was harboured in the Colombo Port during this time and
the American surgeons who came over to assist Dr. Anthonis were
astonished by his operative skills. His versatility was testified to by
his ability to perform surgery on the gall bladder, liver, pancreas,
stomach, spleen, kidneys, adrenals, urinary bladder, prostate bowel and
thyroid gland etc. with great dexterity. An overawed American surgeon
told me that in their country, surgeons usually specialize only in one
organ.
Many newly returned surgeons followed his ward rounds and came into
operate on a side table whilst Dr. Anthonis performed major operations
on the centre table. We the juniors watched newly qualified surgeons
gain their experience thus and Dr. Anthonis’s unit was never short of
clinical material. Furthermore, documenting all the surgical work
pictorially and cataloguing each and every patient’s details was a
unique trait in this brilliant surgeons professional life.
On Thursday afternoons, a wide variety of short eats were made
available outside operating theatre C. Young doctors and medical
students not working with him also used to come along to enjoy and
savour the spread!
Dr. Anthonis was the patron of the medical students Buddhist Hostel,
Jeevaka, for many years. I am personally aware that he donated furniture
etc. when the need arose. He has assisted numerous medical students with
books, stethoscopes and finances. His intellectual skills were all
embracing. Before he visited a tourist/historic resort, he would read
about the place and gain knowledge; during such visits he would educate
the fellow tourists including the tourist guide!
His influence was considerable, not only in the surgical sphere but
in historical scholarship. He was a storehouse of knowledge as to what
happened-when, where and why. More recently when a younger colleague was
researching to write a book about the history of paediatrics in Sri
Lanka, I took her along to meet Dr. Anthonis. After listening to her, he
meticulously selected many invaluable articles from ancient documents in
his vast collection, which ultimately enriched the book she wrote. We
watched in amazement as he remembered exactly where the information was
stored and more importantly, from which bookshelf it could be retrieved!
He was equipped with this ability of retrieval of data sans computers,
at the ripe age of 97 years.
Meticulous cataloguing by him, demonstrated that history was
intellectually more strenuous than merely a good memory. Dr. Anthonis
was a very unique person, extremely skilful in his specialty, very
knowledgeable about diverse topics, sober in his habits, deeply
religious and extremely humble. Undoubtedly he is one of the most
notable alumni of the Colombo Medical School. He rivalled all others of
his time in distinction and vigour. He is by far the greatest medical
personality that I have come across in Sri Lanka or elsewhere.
After my internship, although I specialized in paediatrics, we
remained in constant touch and my wife and our offspring also had the
privilege of being enriched by his company at many wonderful dinner
parties. I participated in his retirement function in 1971 and thirty
seven years later, I was extremely pleased and filled with emotion when
my former teacher, Dr. Anthonis attended my retirement function and
unveiled my portrait at Lady Ridgeway Hospital. It was unfortunate that
he failed to reach his one hundredth year by a mere 35 days, to which he
was looking forward to with much enthusiasm. However, his was a life
well lived in the fullest sense.
May he attain the supreme bliss of Nirvana, via the shortest route
through Sansara.
Prof. Sanath
P. Lamabadusuriya
Emeritus Professor of
Paediatrics,
University of Colombo
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