Dedicated doctor, true Royalist and sincere friend

The death of Dr. Kulanayagam, affectionately called ‘Kule’ by his friends meant the hand of death had taken away another old Royalist from the 1947 batch which had many doctors, many of whom went abroad having been medical men in Sri Lanka for a short time.

When Kule and all of us entered Royal, the ‘Bradby era’ had ended and the ‘J.C.A Corea era’ had begun. Kule was outstanding in his studies and entered Medical College without much effort. He was not very involved in sports but enjoyed the Royal- Thomian cricket encounter and the annual visit to Kandy to witness the Royal- Trinity rugby match. He like all the others took part in the fun and frolic that took place in College during that time. He led a full life at College and was active in the Royal College Over 70 Group. Unfortunately being ill he missed the last get-together.

After entering Medical College he chose the subject of psychiatry for his specialised studies. He was a much sought-after psychiatrist with ‘alcohol’ being one of his favourite areas of medical care. He worked at the Angoda Hospital and tried hard to uplift the hospital to a higher status. His theme was that many had mental problems that had to be identified and cured by treatment and therapy. He practised his profession right upto a short period before his demise.

My first encounter with him as a doctor was when I took a close friend who had alcohol related problems to him for treatment. He was tough with the patient and said ‘You have a good friend named alcohol and I’m going to separate him from you.” He treated him and his wife thanked me for the favour I had done the family. Unfortunately once when a curfew was declared my friend had forgotten to purchase his tablets and went back to his alcohol again, never to return.

My next encounter with him was when I took an OCD ( Obsessive Compulsive Disorder ) patient to him. He was able to help him and give relief after treatment and therapy. He told me “OCD is very common, many people have it but it can be cured by proper treatment and therapy.”

Having worked in many alcoholic clin- ics in many parts of the world he was of the view that alcoholism is a serious illness and one must avoid it totally. He did enjoy a Brandy but he said ‘Better be without it.” While working abroad he became friends with the late Padmal de Silva who was one-time Registrar of the Institute of Psychiatry of King’s College London. Padmal who had authored a book on OCD helped many in Sri Lanka, without payment, and did trauma counselling for many tsunami victims.

Some say that medical men are medical mudalalis who only make money. Kule was not such a person. When another doctor who had helped him during the ‘83 riots, suffered an untimely death, he greatly helped the family and was like a guardian to the children. He treated his own staff like his children, monitored their progress and helped them monetarily.

He had an abiding interest in music and was a good pianist, a familiar figure at parties, playing the piano. A dedicated doctor, good Hindu, true Royalist and sincere friend, his death is a great loss to all of us and his family. S. S. Sahabandu