Remembering Dr. Ranjit de Silva: A Surgeon Who Shaped Generations of Sri Lankan Doctors

Dr. Ranjit de Silva, a towering figure in Sri Lankan surgery who dedicated his life to medicine and mentorship, passed away on July 5th, 2026, just weeks before what would have been his 89th birthday. Known affectionately as Maama by his family, he leaves behind a profound legacy that stretches across some of the island's most important hospitals.

A Career That Spanned the Island

Over the course of his distinguished career, Dr. de Silva served in surgical units across Sri Lanka, including hospitals in Galle, Gampaha, Anuradhapura, Ratnapura, and Ragama. Wherever he was posted, he left an indelible mark — not only through his clinical work, but through the generations of surgeons he trained and inspired along the way.

A Mentor to Countless Surgeons

The countless doctors who passed through his wards and operating theatres remember him as far more than a skilled technician. To those who trained under him, Dr. de Silva was a guide, a standard-setter, and a deeply human presence at a time when young medical professionals needed steady hands and steady counsel in equal measure.

A Man of Many Dimensions

Beyond the operating theatre, those closest to him knew Dr. de Silva as a man of warmth and depth — a healer in the broadest sense of the word, and, by all accounts, a romantic at heart. Born in 1937, he lived a life that spanned nearly nine decades and witnessed the transformation of Sri Lankan medicine from its post-independence foundations to the complex modern healthcare landscape of today.

His passing marks the end of an era for Sri Lankan surgery, but the physicians he shaped continue to carry his influence into hospitals and clinics across the country — and in that sense, his work endures.