Spanning generations:

Doctors are patients' confidantes - Dr Dulcie Serasinghe

By Carol Aloysius

Why I wondered, were women who grew up in the 20th century, addicted to collecting China ware? The question was irresistible as I walk into Dr Dulcie Serasinghe's red tiled house at Palmyrah Avenue in Kollupitiya and enter her blue Chinese wall plate lined living room. Below the plates with traditional Chinese designs stands an antique pettagama. "They (the plates) are all originals picked up from my travels to China," she says taking me to the right side of the room where they hung, for a closer look. A pink stuffed cotton peacock stands guard at the doorway, while a large abstract painting adorns her wall on the right side. Beneath it is a cushioned sofa covered in blue cloth, on which Dulcie reclines.

It is her bubbly personality bursting with vigour and energy that strikes me when this octogenarian stands up in blue pants over a cream T shirt and sandals, to greet me with a hearty 'Hello'.

Short in stature and bursting with vigour, I tell myself, this is one doctor who will keep ticking for another decade, even though most of her colleagues have retired. Her youthful looks, have been on occasions a source of embarrassment to her, she says, citing one such incident.. "I had newly passed out as a doctor and was the JMO at Ratnapura, when I had to go into the jungle to examine the body of a deceased person. I was accompanying the chief Inspector of the area, and wearing a skirt and blouse, with socks and shoes to avoid getting bitten by snakes. The villagers on seeing me mistook me for the inspector's daughter and scolded him for bringing me to that place, little knowing I was the doctor in charge!" she says, laughing at the recollection..

Indeed, for a general practitioner of over sixty years, and a seafarer practitioner for the past 18 years, Dulcie is remarkably robust and loaded with an energy that would put her younger colleagues to shame. Any likelihood that this sprightly octogenarian will hang up her surgical gloves soon, seems remote. As she says, "I will continue to work if I'm allowed, till I drop dead"!.

At 85, hitting 86, she attributes her healthy appearance and unlined face largely to the positive and cheerful way she looks at life. "My philosophy in life is to 'Enjoy life without hurting anyone and to always expect the best", she says. In all of her 86 years of life, she says, " I have never been ill and had to take even a paracetamol for fever or headache. "In fact, I didn't even know what headache meant when I went for my Viva and Dr Wijerama my lecturer had to explain what it was. I had also never heard of diabetes, cholesterol or any non communicable disease since my family never complained of any of these ailments". She says it was probably due to the wholesome food they ate from home gardens in different parts of the country where they were stationed.

Childhood

Her first memory of school was, when she and her sister Trixie were enrolled at the Kurunegala Convent." My father was stationed at Kurunegala and wanted us to have a good English education. Being a Catholic school, my education was in a strictly Catholic environment although I belonged to a Buddhist family. There was only one stream, English, in the pre war period. Schools in the vernacular were conspicuously absent. She believes her excellent command of the English language is mainly due to the attention to English grammar given by the teachers in the Convent.

Ending up at Visaka Vidyalaya, when her father was temporarily stationed in Colombo, Dulcie says, she literally sang and danced her way through school , taking part in plays, debating contests and elocution. She also won the 'Light of Asia contest..

As an Arts student, she changed to the Science stream at the A.L to become a lawyer. "My ambition was to be a lawyer- never a doctor. But it was my father who insisted I do medicine as he did not have the money to help me set up a legal practice after I had passed out." she admits. The fact that she married a lawyer however helped give an insight into the life she might have led, had she pursued her dream.

Projects

Having been a Brownie, Girl Guide and Ranger, she says all of these experiences in school helped when she decided to go beyond her duty call and serve the community.

" I was very much involved with the St Johns Ambulance Brigade and was President of the local branch of the Family Planning Association. My husband, Dannister,, and later my son Kesara and I, were all Presidents of the Lions. So we did a lot of community projects".

Two, especially remain etched in her memory. "The St. John's Ambulance Brigade held first aid classes in all major schools in Beliatte where we were based. Once they passed out we arranged the grants through the Norwegian Embassy to get them employment as nurse aides. About 670 young people got employment through this scheme.

Empowering woman

As a woman did she get involved in any projects that helped to boost self employment opportunities to women in the area, I ask.

"Definitely. Women, especially the underprivileged, were my first priority. The first project was cultivating gherkins in home gardens. Only women were employed and we gave them land from ten perches to a quarter acre. It was most successful"

One thing that struck her was how the female entrepreneurs reacted when for the first time they had money they had earned themselves. "They did not want to use any of it for themselves. Instead, they wanted to buy their husbands cigarettes and alcohol. I was touched by the gesture and even though I knew the adverse impacts of those 'gifts' I hadn't the heart to tell them and spoil their moment of joy", she says in retrospect.

At Beliatte, together with the Lions, she also launched an Elders vision care project . " We were the first to have patients examined by skilled optometrists and give free prescribed spectacles instead of used specs prescribed for others", she says. In 1983 she and her husband also organized a big health camp at Beliatta.

"We did 150 cataract operations with a hundred percent success rate using a dental surgery at the Tangalle Hospital ", she recalls.

Memories she enjoys most of those 'wonderful carefree varsity days', are the songs and impromptu skits played out by her and her colleagues. " All of us were English educated and when called upon to act or mimic we could do so at the drop of a hat. I remember one particular song by one of my sporting colleagues well known in the rugby field, which we never failed to sing; "If you want to be a Ceylon undergraduate, buy a bicycle, a notebook and a peacock cigarette". The last cost only three cents, and was the cheapest in the market in the 50s.".

Clean fun

She says of the ragging they underwent, 'It was clean fun. Not the ugly form it has taken today. "

Drugs?

"Never heard of them being used on the campus. Only a few actually smoked or drank. At the most they played cards for gambling."

Teen pregnancies?

"Unheard of. Girls and boys fell in and out of love in the campus. But they knew their boundaries when it came to physical love making. .

Extra curricular activities?

'The average student did not focus on one thing like sports or studies, they were all-rounders,"

Lecturer- student relationships?

"Our lecturers had a good rapport with the students. They had an excellent command of the English language and were widely read which was important as we were all from English educated backgrounds. There were no vernacular students at Medical College then.

Parents had time for their children then. My mother was a full time housewife who was also an excellent seamstress. She made all our clothes.

I remember how my sister and I tried to imitate Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margeret in their clothes when we were children and insisted on wearing the same gingham dresses with cross straps at the back and black bar shoes . My mother took time to reproduce the exact replicas for us".

Life - then and now

So was life better than it is now for her in the 21st century? I ask.

"For 95 % who spoke English and belonged to the middle class like myself, the answer is Yes. But to 95% whose education did not go beyond the 8th standard and were taught only in the vernacular, the answer is No." Child servants were her special concern. Quick to point out that her family did not have child servants, she says they were a common feature in most middle class houses. "They were cheaper than adult cooks or nannies, and came from far away tea estates to Colombo," she notes.

Now, as the Sea Wayfarers practitioner overseeing the health of merchant navy seamen, for the past 18 years, approved by the Ministry of Shipping before issuing the medical certificates, she says, "They have become my family. Problems which they can't discuss with their families or wives, they tell me and get my advice".

If you lived your life again what would you wish?

"Nothing really. Or maybe, I would have wished for a daughter as I only have a son. But I have everything I need - a son, grandchildren, daughter-in-law and family. What more do I need?"