Carlo Fonseka
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කාලෝ ෆොන්සේකා
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| Born | (1933-03-04)March 4, 1933 |
| Died | September 2, 2019(2019-09-02) (aged 86)
Colombo
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| Nationality | Sri Lankan |
| Alma mater | Maris Stella College, Negombo St. Joseph's College, Colombo University of Ceylon University of Edinburgh |
| Occupation | Academic |
| Title | President, Sri Lanka Medical Council. |
| Term | January 2012 – June 2017 |
| Predecessor | Lalitha Mendis |
| Political party | Lanka Sama Samaja Party |
Carlo Fonseka (Sinhala: කාලෝ ෆොන්සේකා Kālō Fonsēkā; 4 March 1933 – 2 September 2019)[1] was a Sri Lankan physician, academic and political activist. He was a former dean of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya and a former president of the Sri Lanka Medical Council.
Fonseka was born on 4 March 1933 in Colombo, Ceylon.[2] His family were Roman Catholics.[3][4] He was educated at Maris Stella College, Negombo and St. Joseph's College, Colombo.[2][5][6] After school he joined the University of Ceylon's Faculty of Medicine in Colombo in 1955, graduating in 1960 with a first class MBBS degree.[7][8][9]
After graduating Fonseka joined the Colombo General Hospital as an intern under professor K. Rajasuria and senior surgeon Dr. Noel Bartholomeusz.[8] He then joined the base hospital in Mirigama, near his home village of Divulapitiya, as a medical officer.[8] In 1962 Fonseka joined the University of Ceylon's Department of Physiology as a lecturer.[8] He joined the University of Edinburgh's Department of Physiology in 1964 to pursue his doctoral studies, obtaining a Ph.D. in 1966.[8][9]
Fonseka returned to the University of Ceylon's Department of Physiology in 1967.[8] He was a professor at the department from 1982 and 1989.[10] The North Colombo Medical College (NCMC), a private medical school, was nationalised in 1989 and in 1991 became the Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya with Fonseka as its first dean.[7][11] He served as dean until 1997.[12] He was chairman of the Board of Management of the University of Colombo's Postgraduate Institute of Medicine from 1996 to 1997 and from 1998 to 2001.[13] The University of Colombo appointed Fonseka as an emeritus professor in July 2000.[14] He was also appointed emeritus professor by the University of Kelaniya.[15]
Fonseka was appointed president of the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) in January 2012.[16][17][18] The appointment was opposed by the Sri Lanka Medical Faculty Students' Action Committee alleging that it had been made under political influence.[19] Fonseka's tenure at the SLMC was to end in December 2016 but the government extended it by six months.[18][20] Fonseka resigned at the end of June 2017.[18][20]
Fonseka was a prominent member of the Trotskyist Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP).[21][22] He was a member of the party's central committee and politburo and led its branch in Kotte.[23][24][25] Fonseka was a vocal critic of private medical education and campaigned against the NCMC in the early 1980s.[26] Whilst president of the SLMC he was highly critical of the South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM), a private medical school.[27][28][29] After leaving the SLMC Fonseka claimed he would work to "topple the government" on the SAITM issue.[30]
Fonseka received a M.A. degree from the University of Kelaniya in 1999.[31] He was a fellow of the Ceylon College of Physicians and the Sri Lanka College of General Practitioners.[32] He has served as president of the Arts Council of Sri Lanka, chairman of the Vijaya Kumaratunga Memorial Hospital, chairman of the National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol and was a member of the University Grants Commission.[33][34][35] Fonseka was one of six South-East Asia Region awardees of the World No Tobacco Day 2012 Awards.[36] He was a lyricist and composer and has produced a number of albums including Carlochita Gee (1992), Raththaran Duwe (2006)[37][38][39][40][41] and Koida Kiya (2015).[42]
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