The State of Traditional Medical Education at the College of Indigenous Medicine during the Post-Independence Period (1948-1960)

Abeyrathne R.M.

Abstract

The State of Traditional Medical Education at the College of Indigenous Medicine during the Post-Independence Period (1948-1960)

Abeyrathne R.M.

Abstract
The British introduced reforms in traditional medicine in the first part of the nineteenth century and laid the foundation to establish a formal pluralistic health care service in the country. Nevertheless, traditional medicine became a highly contested phenomenon in the aftermath of independence from 1948-1960. The objective of this study was to study how Sinhalese Buddhist nationalist politics impacted on shaping traditional medicine and how its activities influenced on the state of traditional medical education at the College of Indigenous Medicine in Colombo. This research project was carried out as a qualitative study at various institutes in the United Kingdom and Sri Lanka. The researcher of this study used a digital camera to film all relevant material at various institutes and organized them into logical themes and analysed them according to theme-list and content analysis methods. These study findings reveal that in the aftermath of independence, traditional medicine got entangled between national and liberal political ideologies of the main political parties. There were divergent groups who manipulated their own ideologies to promote traditional medicine during this period. Thus, the Sinhalese Buddhist group organized reform activities to regain their lost identity and revitalize Deshiya chikithsa over the other types of traditional medicine. Similarly, the pro-reform group with an open mind to reform traditional medicine along with the line of modernity advocated a more mixed methods to revitalize native. This political dichotomy on traditional medicine exited during this period became one of the most significant obstacles for the College of Indigenous Medicine to develop a sound and steady academic environment at the college.

Keywords: The British, College of Indigenous Medicine, Medical Education, Modernity

Department of Sociology, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.

Correspondence: Dr. Rathnayake M. Abeyrathne, Medical Anthropologist, Department of Sociology,
University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. Email: abeyrathnayake87@gmail.com