Blog Archives

Flying to the Northern Warfront in the 1990’s – by Dr Gamini Goonetilleke Source: A Surgeon’s Tales “Reminiscence of a Surgeon” – Dr Gamini Goonetilleke “I was never a military surgeon!  I was not even enlisted as a volunteer doctor to serve in the Sri Lanka Army Medical Corp. I gathered considerable experience in the management of war casualties while working as the only surgeon at the Base Hospital, Polonnaruwa. I wanted to use that experience for the benefit of the army personnel injured in conflict. Thus I volunteered my services to treat the armed forces injured in battle in the North”. Background The explosion of a Landmine in Thirunelvely in the Northern city of Jaffna on the 23rd of July 1983 originated the onset of clashes between the Sri Lankan Armed Forces and The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the Northern Province. This phase of the war was ...