ABDF

Our future doctor.

Eastern University is located about 18km north of Batticaloa, and serves as the only University for the District’s residents. The University itself opened in 1981, and is still under construction, which proceeds off and on, very, very slowly.

The University only admits five medical undergraduate students a year. These positions are extremely competitive, given the number of students who apply. Tuition and housing is provided for by the government, as is a small stipend. However, due to fiscal problems, payment of the stipend is often long delayed and not in the full amount. For example, the last stipend paid out was almost nine months ago, and it covered only two months of a previous six month gap.

As part of their free tuition, the students are obligated to work within the District for five years after graduation. This is because pay on the East Coast, even for government doctors, is lower than in the rest of the country; consequently getting quality medical staff to work here can be difficult.

To help the students through these gaps between stipend payments, several local organizations have set up a fund to provide a meager allowance for each. ADBF.org has been asked to sponsor one student for a year.

ABDF.org has selected K. Thivyan to be our recipient. Thiviyan is a second-year undergraduate who has done exceptionally well in his classes, and is currently top medical student of his class (called “batch” in Sri Lanka). Thivyan lives at home with his mother and father, and sister. His father operates the railroad switch at Batticaloa train station, which allows trains to move from one set of tracks to another. He is set to retire this year, and will have a small pension. Thivyan’s sister, Deilakshini, just graduated from St. Cecilia’s, a Batticaloa girls’ school that is the location of our English Lab site. She is handicapped, her left arm being completely paralyzed. Both parents obviously value education, and have sacrificed greatly to put their children through school; Thivyan and Deilakshini both speak excellent English. The family currently lives in housing provided by the Railroad Board next to the rail yard; we anticipate that upon his fathers’ retirement, the family will lose this housing. They have been living at the railway yard since the 2004 tsunami, which destroyed their house.

Tsunami displaced, and living in the rail yard.

ABDF.org has agreed to provide Thivyan with Rs2,000 a month (about $20 US) for 12 months. This amount will provide Thivyan with the following each month:

• Breakfast every day at Eastern University’s canteen.

• Academic expenses, including photocopying, notebooks and paper, latex gloves for dissection, and some text books.

• Living Expenses, such as soap and other toiletries, laundry detergent, the occasional haircut, and so forth.

One of ABDF.org’s Sri Lankan partners, the Sri Lanka Friendship Society, has investigated Thivyan’s situation completely, and is satisfied that his needs are real and reasonable. Therefore when the request came for sponsorship, ABDF.org felt this scholarship program a good way to show our commitment to the long-term future of the District.

Project Update - April 29, 2009

After ABDF.org's Project Director, Bennett Hinkley, did some checking, he found that Thivyan's marks have all been excellent, and he’s taking a supplementary English course as well. ABDF.org is pleased to announce that we have agreed to continue support for his third year, which will start this summer. As a third year student he will actually begin to get some clinical experience, which should be great for him.

Now that Thivyan is a third year med student he also needs to buy a set of reference books. After getting the prices, ABDF.org agreed to buy his texts for him. The books will be bought early this coming month. Stay tuned for more updates!

Project Update - June 6th, 2009

Thivyan with some of his reference texts.

ABDF.org has officially allocated the money for Thivyan’s monthly stipend. Thivyan has also bought about half his reference books and is waiting for the most recent editions of the rest to make it to the Batti bookshops.

Project Update - May 6, 2010

ABDF is going to continue to sponsor Thiyan’s studies; he’s now a fourth year medical student. This year he is spending less time in class and more in Batticaloa Hospital, doing rounds. Thus far he has had several rounds, including pathology, pediatrics, hematology, and infectious disease. His next round will be in surgery – good luck!

In addition to continuing Thivyan’s monthly stipend, ABDF has bought him a stethoscope (students have to purchase their own) and we have agreed to fund his dissertation research. Entitled “Risk Factors of Ischemic Heart Disease,” the largest expense will be the 150 lipid panels he will need analyzed. The total cost of the research will be around $760. Gathering data will start in June 2010 and continue into December. Thivyan anticipates that analyzing the results and writing his paper will happen in the first half of next year.

Ischemic heart disease? Looks like we have a future cardiologist on our hands.

Project Update - May 12, 2011

Thivyan is now a Fifth Year student. He is currently writing his dissertation, and making the rounds at Batticaloa Hospital. Next year he will be assigned a hospital for his two-year Residency.

We continue to support Thivyan with his monthly stipend of 2,000 rupees ($18) a month. And we look forward to seeing the results of his research.

If anyone is interested, especially members of the medical profession, in expanding our support of Thivyan, or in sponsoring other medical students, please contact us.