Will safe bottle lamp bag world prize?

by Jayampathy JAYASINGHE

It was somewhere in 1992 when Dr. Wijaya Godakumbura, a surgeon by profession at the Ratnapura government hospital had to treat several burn victims brought there with severe burns. It became apparent to him that the victims were poor people who lived in squalid shanty houses made of wooden planks and thatched roofs.

The Safe Bottle lamp on display

The victims had sustained severe burn injuries as a result of bottle lamps with kerosene topping on them accidentally setting ablaze their clothing. The Kerosene bottle lamps were crude in nature. They were dangerous and unsafe in the absence of a safety valve to prevent kerosene flowing out of the bottle. Something had to be done to prevent such accidents occurring frequently to save the lives of innocent people, thought Dr. Godakumbura.

The idea finally led to the invention of a Safe Bottle Lamp concept that would save the lives of thousands of people in Sri Lanka and abroad. The feat of Vidyajothi Dr. Wijaya Godakumbura (FRCS) captured the attention of the world. In fact, he was featured in several newspapers and magazines locally and abroad including the Readers Digest. He too had won several international accolades such as the prestigious Rolex prize. He had made presentations in 12 countries including India, Taiwan, Turkey, France, Hawaii, Libya, USA, Australia, Japan, South Africa, Switzerland Philippines and Vietnam.

"I used to be interested in the health of people from my days as a medical student in the early sixties. I used to write to newspapers and give talks on Radio shows on health education ," Dr. Godakumbura said.

He said while serving at the Ratnapura Hospital in 1992 he observed the misery caused to patients who became victims of bottle lamp accidents undergoing excruciating pain for weeks and months before death. The trauma and sorrow also becomes unbearable for the victims. "I remember when a young woman (19) with severe burn injuries dying after being admitted to my ward on the previous day."

I thought to myself that I should do something to prevent such unfortunate incidents," he said. The following day he told his patients to bring the unsafe bottle lamps that caused them burn injuries. The unsafe oil lamps were made from discarded bottles and from electric bulbs. The bottles were tall and narrow and light in weight that tend to topple easily. The bottles had no screw on them to prevent kerosene flowing from it. It was difficult to extinguish the flames on oil. Perhaps these oil lamps had been in existence for more than 100 years. "After studying them carefully I decided to design a cheap bottle lamp that can be produced on mass scale to meet the needs of the poor. In my estimation there were around two million unsafe lamps used by the poor. The lamps were even sold in Colombo," he said.

Meanwhile Dr. Godakumbura experimented with his invention and found that vegetable oil does not go up the wick when the bottle was tall. The lamps had to be lit with kerosene instead. Finally he invented the safe lamp with two flat sides, that was heavy and short and wouldn't topple easily. "Even if it falls it settles on one side and would'nt roll over unlike the bottle lamp. The other safety feature was that even a drop of kerosene wouldn't pour out of the bottle. The bottle is fitted with a metal stopper to prevent leakage." Dr. Godakumbura said his Safe Bottle Lamp Foundation has given away over 750,000 safe bottle lamps to poor people over the past 18 years. A publication by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 1965 says that a substantial education and propaganda campaign was underway in Ceylon aimed at substituting a safer lamp. But for the next 27 years there was no activity in that regard until I invented the safe bottle lamp in 1992. "I did this singlehandedly with some support from the Sri Lanka Medical Association." he said.

Vidyajyothi Dr. Wijaya Godakumbura explaining to villagers the Safe Bottle concept.

Finally Dr. Godakumbura won the Rolex award in 1998 for inventing the safe bottle lamp with a cash prize of Rs. 3.5 million. With the money he set up a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) office and employed two persons. "Initially we sold the Safe Lamps below cost with the Rolex money. But now we give out these lamps free of charge to poor people through Grama Niladharis, Youth clubs etc. Dr. Godakumbura said although various organisations spend lavishly on sports and other musical events they do not contribute generously to other worthy humanitarian causes." From 2006 we get Rs. 500,000 annually from the Ministry of Health for development of the Safe Bottle Lamp. But there is no regular income for the Safe Bottle Lamp Foundation.

Dr. Godakumbura said, in 1992 only 50 percent of the population had electricity but the situation has improved drastically . However, today over 75 percent of, the population have electricity. He said even in Colombo area bottle lamps are used by shanty dwellers along the railway line at Narahenpita area.

Those who live in shanty towns in Rajagiriya, Kotahena and Nugegoda areas also use unsafe bottle lamps. According to a study done by the Safe Lamp Foundation 487 burn patients were admitted to the National Hospital Colombo between 1998-1999 and half of the accidental burn injuries in Sri Lanka are caused by unsafe bottle lamps. It is estimated that around 10,000 burn injuries and 100 deaths occur annually in Sri Lanka. So far about 450,000 or 11 percent of the 4 million unsafe lamps have already replaced. There is hope in the future that with the spread of these lamps there would be a further decrease in burn injuries and related deaths, Dr. Godakumbura said.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka is among the 12 finalists in the contest, "The World Challenge 09" run by the BBC, Newsweek, and the Shell. If the Safe Bottle Lamp Project is chosen as the winner they would use the prize money of USD 20,000 to make safe lamps to be given free to the needy. The website of the project is www.safebottlelamp.org. The Safe Bottle Lamp Foundation has won three international awards such as the Rolex, Lindbergh foundation and Readers Digest awards. The local awards are Vidyajyothi, Presidential and Sarvodaya awards.