Green Medical School - The First Med School in Sri Lanka

The Colombo Medical Faculty was established at around 1870, and tends to be considered the first western medical school in SL, and the second in South Asia after the Calcutta Medical College (1835). However, there was a med school set-up in Manipay in 1848, by Dr. Samuel Green, a missionary doctor from Boston, Massachussets.












Dr. John Scudder was the first medical missionary in Jaffna, establishing a dispensary in Pandathirrippu in 1820, illustrated in image 3. And while there had been hospitals operated by the Portuguese and Dutch, they were mostly for their own use, they couldn't rlly be considered the 'modern' medicine, practiced since 1800s or so.

Dr. Samuel Green similarly opened his clinic in 1847 (Image 4), which would eventually evolve into the Green Memorial Hospital, which is still operational to this day. The Green Med School trained around 80 doctors from 1850-1875, from local community, who were employed by the British colonial government. There was also a Green Memorial nursing school, a picture from the 1900s shown in image 5. The remaining are pictures of Green Hospital from 1939.

I thought it was an interesting part of history which is why I thought of sharing. However this is but a hasty summary, and I shall leave my sources in comment, which are much more elaborate. Also, this is only a small part of medical history in Sri Lanka, med lore that would extend from Rajarata period to the amazing wonders we accomplised in the 20th century. That would be a rabbit hole for another time.


I thought it was an interesting part of history which is why I thought of sharing. However this is but a hasty summary, and I shall leave my sources here, which are much more elaborate. 

https://history.rcp.ac.uk/blog/introduction-western-medicine-northern-sri-lanka-massachusetts-manipay

https://www.sundaytimes.lk/170723/plus/the-little-known-green-hospital-of-sri-lanka-251165.html

https://greenmemorialhospital.com/green-memorial-hospital-manipay-nursing-school/

https://sangam.org/from-sachis-files-chapter-10/

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Fisk_Green

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Memorial_Hospital

https://www.sundaytimes.lk/221009/plus/the-doctor-whose-legacy-altered-the-medical-landscape-of-then-ceylon-498039.html

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