Dr Lakshman Weerasena – An appreciation

Dr Lakshman Weerasena passed away a few days ago. He was the physician who attended to members of my family and many of my friends. To me he was not only my doctor, but a friend who I looked to for advice and support, help that he readily gave wholeheartedly.

To this day I remember his entrance into my life because it was so dramatic. It happened because of a particularly severe allergic attack when I collapsed at home and was rushed semi-conscious through a throng of patients into his office startling the doctor who was seated there. He treated me swiftly and competently, and he and his efficient nurse assistant whom we all knew as Madanayake became a part of my life thereafter.

As a family physician, Dr Lakshman was a doctor par excellence. When we entered his consultation room, he did not adopt the cold stare or “I am buried in my file” approach of many specialist doctors today but would greet us warmly, by name and ask us what the problem was. He would listen carefully to what we had to say interjecting questions to discover the specifics. His cross examination of our condition was never superficial or perfunctory. In spite of the many patients who crowded his waiting room, Dr Lakshman would have ample time to listen and reach out to the worried individual who sat next to him in the patient’s chair. His fluency in the language of his patients, be it English, Sinhala or Tamil helped to put the patients at ease. With his vast experience collected over the years, his diagnosis was usually spot on, and although we as patients did not realize it, as we spoke, he would be observing us keenly to note other signs or symptoms to help him come to a conclusion. When in doubt, he would not hesitate to seek a second opinion and we would be sent on our way to another doctor if necessary.

Perhaps what underscored his strength as a physician was his sense of empathy with his patients. When I discovered a small red patch on my breast and was disturbed by unusual pain in my right arm, I went to Dr Lakshman thinking that it was an insect bite. The doctor knew better and immediately arranged for me to undergo a needle biopsy. When I presented the biopsy report to him, there was a hushed silence in the room as Dr Lakshman stared at the piece of paper with stunned incredulity. His reaction was so similar to my own that I felt comforted that even though the diagnosis was cancer, I had an ally who felt the same despair as I did about my condition. This ability to totally understand a patient and his or her distress or trauma was something that we rarely see in the doctors of today. All too often we are merely a number which the nurse at the door calls out and attended to as quickly as possible. To Dr Lakshman however we were people with problems, problems that he tried to solve for us. To this end he would also use his knowledge to caution us about the food we ate, the life style changes we would need to make, the care we need to take. A consultation with Dr Lakshman was a total package, not a brush–off with a hastily written prescription.

During the week, Dr Lakshman would work long hours, shouldering the burden of care of the many patients, rich and poor, crowding into his consultation room. And as if this was not service enough, at weekends, Dr Lakshman would reach out to sick people all over the island. It was quite a normal occurrence to walk into his clinic and negotiate one’s way through stacks of medical supplies waiting to be loaded into his jeep for his next Medical Camp. He cajoled his colleagues and juniors into joining him and would travel miles to help people who did not have the advantage of the services available in the capital.

Dr Lakshman Weerasena was an iconic presence in our neighbourhood – warm-hearted, friendly, caring, compassionate.

He leaves behind a legacy of humane care and humanitarian service that few can lay claim to.

May his soul rest in peace.

Ryhana Raheem.