Prof. Anton Jayasuriya that I knew…..

The clinic is a beehive of activity. A man complaints of his severe nerve pain while the other has diabetes, the woman round the corner has eczema while the child is asthmatic, it goes on and on, and this was a typical day where an endless stream of patients were seen milling at the Medicina clinic that was operating at the Colombo South Govt. General University teaching hospital after the formation of Medicina Alternativa at the Alma Ata declaration in 1962.

A large number of local and foreign practitioners could also be seen in a flurry of activity working in unison at this clinic and other clinics in the evenings under the able tutelage of Prof. Anton Jayasuriya popularly known as Anton or Kara by his friends, whose voice was silenced by the sting of death that spread a dark veil over him most unexpectedly on 6 th April, at a time when the world that was heading towards integrated medicines needed him the most.

This man who was a legend in his time had treated around 3.5 million patients free of charge( probably deserving an entry in the Guinness book of records), and even provided the very needles at his own expense when the need arose. He used to regularly say that there is ALLOPATHY AND HOMEOPATHY BUT WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT IS SYMPATHY. He hosted over 60 medical seminars and world congresses in 110 countries and trained over 150,000 doctors from 140 countries . Anton was born on 20 June 1930 and had his primary and secondary education at St.Sebastian’s College Moratuwa before entering Medical college and passing out with a M.B.B.S degree (University of Ceylon) in April 1954 at the age of 23. He was in England for some time and was a Post graduate Fellow at Guys Hospital from 1957 – 1959 and made a Fellow of The Royal Society of Medicine in 1957. He also has a B.SC from Toronto and RCP and RCS England and D.Sc Wellington Cum laude, plus several dozen honors , accolades , appreciations, gold medals and tiles too numerous to mention here . He was sent to China in 1974 as a W.H.O Fellow to study acupuncture.

The wall hanging on the clinic says “ IF YOU CANNOT BE A KING BE A HEALER” taken from an ancient Sinhala Ola manuscript of ca 500 B.C., and one of Anton’s own sayings” There is only one important person in the clinic – the patient” . True to his saying he took great

trouble to speak with patients and get to know them closely because he maintained that “ To know about the patient is more important than to know about the disease”. He was a firm believer in service and without fail, come rain or sunshine, made his way to the clinic every morning and evening. He took trouble to instill these disciplines in the clinical practitioners and staff and worked till his last day on earth.

The Anton I knew for long years was also a multi - faceted person with an encyclopedic knowledge of medicine and I personally enjoyed every lecture he gave at the clinics the memories of which would never leave me .His versatility and aplomb won many friends , admirers and some enemies who took opportunity to criticize, many in ignorance and jealousy , perhaps due to lack of anything better to do, than to improve and help the greater advancement of knowledge or encourage a fellow Sri Lankan to do better.

Prof and I used to meet often on Sundays to have a quiet private lunch together sometimes out -but more regularly at his own dining table. Even here his main concern was what I was eating, serving from one dish and ordering to take from another . This is where we discussed so many deeper things , such as, quantum theory, consciousness etc.., and I was amazed at his grasp and contributions that came only from an accomplished master. This knowledge was enlivened by his own brand of “ Antonian humour” which resulted in a small publication titled” Laughter is the best Alternative Medicine”.

During his life Prof. Anton published around 80 books of which just one book titled “ CLINICAL ACUPUNCTURE” has sold around 10 million copies worldwide. I am happy and honored that during this time I was able to jointly author with him three books , firstly a book on Clinical Psychology and two volumes on Buddhism and Christianity. At the time of his death he was working on a Dictionary of Acupuncture , and we had completed the drafts of three more joint books, one titled “ The Psychology of healing” and two others on Islam and Hinduism.

When necessary he was not afraid to challenge accepted theories and one such was on the origin of Acupuncture. Going after the findings of the Ice man Oetzi, discovered in the Tyrolean Alps in 1991, and the acupuncture points discovered on his body which showed that he was treated for a spinal disorder complicated by lumbar discopathy, Prof. Anton delved deep into our own discoveries in Beli-lena, Fahien lena , Balangoda man etc., and proposed that evidence existed of the use of acupuncture in Sri Lanka during those ancient time even before Chinese and probably went to Europe and far East along the famous spice and silk routes. It was a memorable experience for me to be involved with this research team of experts and liaise with Dr.Diane Hawkey an International expert on Dental Morphology and DNA analysis to set dates of artifacts.

The 42 nd World Congress of Complementary Medicines held at the BMICH in November 2004,happened to be his last. It was also one of the best congresses I have attended, which had around 2500 participants attending from all over the world. Little would they have realized as they were showering him with various accolades that it would be his last. This was also the year when after much indefatigable effort of Prof. Anton, the Nobel Foundation of Sweden had consented to consider nominees for Nobel prize in Complementary Medicines and the laureates received their medals amidst much applause, for the first time in the world.

There is a saying that no prophet is honored in his own home town which seems very true in the case of Prof. Anton too. He was a Hero, the Leader ,the Guru, the revered Teacher par excellence and the Champion of many a cause yet he did not receive much appreciation in his own mother

country for the great contribution he made. Perhaps we will never see another like him in our own land and my wish is that his work continues unabated for the millions worldwide who deserve such treatment, and may Sri Lankans who are notorious for their short memories, continue to cherish his memory for many long years to come. This will also help us learn an important lesson in life –to give honour where it is due.

Thus the curtain falls on a great healer who performed caesarian operations using only acupuncture anesthesia while the patient was fully conscious , way back in 1978 at Kalubowila, reminding us of the famous saying

” The world is a plain paper white, whereupon you and I may write …..our word or two…..and then comes night”.

How elegant you appeared in your “ Knightly Attire” and your amassed fleet of Rolls Royces , and still readily available to serve the suffering patients of all walks of life.

Good bye great teacher and friend, I will miss you and will always fondly remember the great times we had together.

Prof. Lakshman Madurasinghe