Honest, humane and hands-on medical administrator
It is hard to accept that Dr. R. C. Rajapakse, Raj to his friends, is no more. He was a sprightly 90-year-old, still bold enough to strategically catch the young urchins stealing mangoes from his garden!
He was a mighty atom from a much younger age when he functioned as the Medical Director of Kurunegala Provincial Hospital and of the Kandy Teaching Hospital. He was the first Director of the 1000-bed Sri Jayewardenepura General Hospital and was concurrently the Director General of the Ministry of Teaching Hospitals. Then he was the Director of the main General Hospital in a foreign country and finally of Durdans Private Hospital.
He was one medical administrator who hardly sat in his office. Instead, he would be one moment in a ward, another in the hospital kitchen, next in the Intensive Care Unit, also in the Laboratory, and then in the ETU.
The triumvirate of Dr. Rienzie Pieris as Chairperson, Raj as the Director and myself as his Deputy was very particular to establish the new concept of clean State Hospitals, clean hospital toilets, clean bed sheets and linen and wholesome meals in State Hospitals. Although he assigned certain departments to me, Raj kept a beady eye open for any transgressions. As in hospital, he personally kept his home in a spick and span condition and loved to tend the garden.
At his 90th birthday in July this year I had no hesitation in calling him the best hospital director of the world in the midst of family and some of the most senior Medical Administrators – as I had also said the same around 30 years ago to a group of Consultant Doctors in a foreign General
Hospital. Raj was a humane person who did his best to get people out of trouble including getting a junior doctor released from Police custody in those gory days of 1989!
He was a firm Hospital Administrator. Both the Consultant Doctor and the orderly were told off individually for any transgressions of hospital rules or ethics including coming late to hospital – and no one was allowed to go off early to do private work. At the same time, he commended any employee for good work. Raj’s disciplined nature, punctuality and care for subordinates came from his military background having finally become the Commanding Officer of the Sri Lanka Army Volunteer Medical Corps. During the strife in the north, Raj loved to serve his country and go on duty to Jaffna.
Raj was straight and honest to the core. Every local purchase bill had the name of the patient, the patient’s bed head ticket number (giving patient details) and the reason for the purchase. There were no audit queries during his time as director. His refusal to bend the rules sometimes made him unpopular but all finally agreed that the Rajapakse Era in every hospital he served was a golden era!
Raj was my boss, colleague and friend. He constantly teased me, my wife Nirmali and my children Nali and Niluka – teasing was a sign of his affection. He fooled me often calling me ‘A God fearing and wife hearing person’!
He was educated at Dharmaraja College, Kandy, Ananda College, Colombo and at the Medical Faculty, Colombo. His postgraduate education was in New Zealand. Most of all, it was a university of practical experience and being a devout Buddhist that made him such a success in the world. It was after taking Sil on Binara Poya day in September that he had a fateful fall. His mind would have been at peace at the time of his sudden death in a temple, but the shock for his family and friends will take a long time to heal.
Raj adored his family. His 57-year marriage to Chandra, a Pediatrician was a love story evident to all and an example for the younger generation. He was proud of and doted on, his children Anuji and Chaminda but most of all his only granddaughter and soulmate Nuwanji. That was indeed a special love. He was eagerly waiting to attend Nuwanji’s convocation when she passed out as a doctor, but fate decided otherwise...
May Raj’s journey be short and peaceful.
Wg. Cdr. Dr. Narme F. Wickremesinghe (SLAF Rtd)