"Duty before self"

by Lakmal Welabada

lakmal@sundayobserver
 

"Duty before self," says Yamuna who is a firm favourite with children who call her 'doctor aunty'. She is the first lady Air Commodore in the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF). "We have no fixed hours. Duty is duty. Self comes next," she stresses.

A servicewoman rarely cry on gender issues, as from the time she decides to join the Forces she is assumed to be on par with her male colleagues. It's indeed a challenge! Air Commodore Dr. Yamuna Kanthi Batangala Ratnayake, presently the Senior Staff Officer of the Directorate of Health Services in the SLAF accepted this challenge from the time she decided to join the SLAF.

"I was doing my Internship at Kurunegala Teaching Hospital when I saw the paper advertisement asking for MBBS doctors for the Sri Lanka Air Force. My maternal uncle, Flt.Lt. Cicil Marambe was a Mig-pilot in the SLAF at that time and that inspired me a lot to join the Air Force," she says.

Four ladies were recruited as Pilot Officers to serve as Air Hostesses for a short while when the Sri Lanka Air Force was doing commercial flying to Male a few years before Yamuna joined.

In 1980, Dr. Anoma Wickremasinghe joined SLAF as a Flight Lieutenant medical officer and left the Air Force after the death of her husband, Flt.Lt. D. S. Wickremasinghe.

In that sense, Yamuna would have been the second lady doctor cum the most senior lady officer who is still in the staff of the Sri Lanka Air Force. "Dr. Vishaka Jayawardene was the other lady doctor who joined with me, but she too left soon," recalls Yamuna.

Unlike today, the SLAF was a ceremonial Air Forceat that time."I joined the SLAF as a Flight Lieutenant on November 1 in 1981, and got attached to the Katunayaka Air Force Hospital. I was the only lady in the Mess," she smiles.

Though male domain was visible everywhere even more at present, Yamuna was one of the luckiest as she received all the support and assistance from her colleagues at the Air Force.

"Present Commander, Air Marshal Roshan Goonetilleke, Air Commodore Prakash Tennekoon (Deputy Director - Logistics), Air Commodore Prasanna Ratnayake (Chief Instructor- Air Wing of the Defence Services Command and Staff College, Batalanda, Sqn. Ldr. Sarath Pallewela (ex-serviceman) and Sqn. Ldr. Theja Cooray (ex-serviceman) and late Wing Commander Rogger Weerasinghe were in the same bachelor Flying Officers' batch at that time. They were all living in the adjoining bachelor quarters and was very helpful and caring," she recalls.

The first batch of female cadre of other rankers were recruited to the Air Force in 1984, and after sometime the lady officers were recruited. At first, the ladies were not given an uniform, and were in sarees.

Later, the identical Royal Air Force uniform for ladies was copied. Group Captain Dr. Lyn Samarasinghe was the Commanding Officer (CO) at the Air force Base Hospital, Katunayake by the time Yamuna joined. Yamuna who was his assistant was promoted to the same (Co) post on January 1, 1993.

Along with this she again hit history by being the first lady Commanding Officer in the SLAF cum first lady doctor to hold the CO post in the Katunayake SLAF base Hospital. She got promoted as the first lady Air Commodore in the SLAF in 2004. She rendered an immense service there for 13 years until 2006, before she accepted the present post.

Yamuna hails from an aristocratic family in the Sabaragamuwa Province, Ratnapura. Batangala Dissanayaka Ranasinghe Atapattu Mudiyanselage Dissanayaka Batangala, a landed proprietor is her beloved father.

"My father is 95 years now, and is quite fit and healthy. My biological mother was Dharma Ekanayaka who happened to study with late Premier, Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike at Fergusan High School, Ratnapura. I have an elder sister and a younger brother too. My mother had died when I was about three years.

My father got married to his first cousin, Lattie Kamala Marambe, and all three of us were treated as if we were her own and so we too felt the same. She was such a gem of a woman. She passed off two years back after living for 89 years," says Yamuna.

We spent our vacations at the ancestral Walawwas of our two mothers. I learnt many techniques in swimming after I joined the Air Force, but I learnt my first strokes in the water in my village stream," she laughs. "I'm a village damsel, healthy and fit, still," she boasts. Her villagers still gather to have a glance of their 'Dostara Appo' whenever she goes home to Ratnapura.

Yamuna entered Dharmapala Maha Vidyalaya, Pannipitiya for her A/Ls and got through the exam in Biology with excellent results and entered the Colombo Medical College.

She passed out in 1979 and went to Kurunegala for her Internship. "We were under Dr. M. B. Kottegoda, Consultant Physician from whom I built my medicinal skills. He was very strict, punctual and a disciplinarian.

He taught us not only to diagnose an ailment, but also patient care, child psychology and so on. He really groomed us to be better physicians which helped me a lot when dealing with service personnel. Patience plays a big role in our profession," she comments.

Yamuna has visited and served in all the SLAF Bases in the operational areas with short attachments including Palali, Puliyankulama, Morawewa and so on. There are many memorable incidents in her service life. Some still remain as happy memories, but some are nightmares in which she had to have great courage.

It was July 23 in 1983. She was celebrating her birthday, but was the duty doctor at the Katunayaka base hospital. Without hesitation she accepted the order to fly to Jaffna to bring down the three casualties along with the 13 dead soldiers killed by the LTTE. It was the first incident of that kind.

Yamuna went off in the aircraft from Katunayake in that morning, and when she and her crew landed at Ratmalana SLAF base nearly 5000 crowd had gathered there to view the happening. "I handed over the dead bodies and the casualties and came back to Katunayake, and that particular night only all the riots started. I still remember," she recollects.

Yamuna is qualified in Aviation Medicine which assists a medical officer in an Air Force, when handling both physical and phycological conditions of pilots especially once they get ejected themselves from an air craft in an emergency.

She did the Diploma in Aviation Medicine at the Institute of Aviation of Royal Air Force, which was conducted by the Royal College of Physician in London in 1991. "I was the only lady officer among the 18 members who came for the course. The Jordanian officer and I were the only non-English speaking persons who got through the tough question papers.

We were also given many rigorous training for six months including the jungle survival training and under sea water escape training. In the sea survival training, we were taken to the middle of the sea and thrown to the water. We landed on face upwards just like a pilot would be when he got himself ejected from his air craft.

In this training, once a pilot falls into the sea the parachute along with the safety jacket on him opens up and becomes a Dingy raft. We were with the safety jacket which also became a raft.

All the technical items including the Pyrotechnics that emits flames as a 'sky rocket' which you have to send up for the rescue party to locate you, a shark repellent to spray to the water around you to avoid attacks from sharks, mirror (again to use to indicate your location), medicines and a few sweets for your survival are instilled in the survival kit.

It was February and was the winter time in UK. I could still remember how the cold water gushed over my face when I fell into the sea. We had to get into the raft after a much struggle while fighting against the high waves of the sea. Oh! it was terrible," she recalls.

Yamuna holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Child Health and a Diploma in Family Medicine. She took part in Asia Pacific Military Medicine Conference in 1996, HIV Aids, Advocacy and Counselling in Bangkok in 2002 and followed Primary Aviation Medicine Course at the Institute of Aerospace Medicine in Bangalore in 1988.

"I have everything in life, a happy childhood, a good education and a career, and apart from everything I'm gifted with a good, sincere and caring husband," she laughs. Yamuna is married to Air Commodore Prasanna Bhathiya Ratnayaka, a veteran Pilot who has possessed plenty of experience in Air operations.

At present he serves as the Chief Instructor of the Air Wing of the Defence Services Command and Staff College, Batalanda. "He was among those who became very close friends of mine in the Air Force. He was the person who hardly spoke to me, but he was most attentive and caring.

He was a pilot and had to report to work at 7.00 am. I had to report at the hospital at 8.00am everyday. But, I had noticed him waiting on the corridor reading a newspaper until I passed him. I even used to ask him whether he was not getting late for work. He would only greet me and smile.

Later I realized he was waiting there for me," she laughs. Yamuna and Prasanna tied the knot on January 17 in 1985. "He is a great cook I would say as he has done a diploma in hotel Management and that has helped me immensely. He has great patience with children and adores them. We treat every child as a precious gift of mother nature," she smiles.

Yamuna feels society should have a broader margin for working women. "A young woman can render her services best, as she has limited duties towards her family. But once she is married her responsibilities get divided as she has to run the family as well.

Once she becomes a mother her duties get manifold putting her even into a worse situation. So, we have to accept this fact though we are service women. However, the present regulations are far more in favour of the women core as they can retire in 15 years and so on. But when you are with the Forces, duty is duty, and self comes after it," she concludes.