Spanning generations:
Doctors are patients' confidantes - Dr Dulcie Serasinghe
By Carol Aloysius

PIC: VIPULA AMERASINGHEE |
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?" |