Another unnecessary, cruel death. Kelum Thushara, 22, a young student from a poor village in Kegalle, succumbed to his injuries at the Kandy General Hospital last week. barely two months after the death by ragging of Peradeniya undergrad Selvanayagam Varapragash
Now two young men, are dead, subjected to a similar, cruel form of ragging. The twin tragedy is compounded by the fact that the only fault the students appeared to have committed was to gain admission to premier higher education institutes in the country.
For both their entry into residential campus life turned out to be a fatal mistake.
Varapragash and Kelum Thushara had, according to reports, been made to consume large amounts of alcohol and exercise hard and long.
They had been forced to perform difficult exercises like push-ups, somersaults and rigorous marching. They both developed kidney failure and died due to complications arising from it.
When Varapragash died there was great public outcry to ban all forms of ragging. Authorities and students vehemently declared that this death would be the first and last of this sort.
Kelum Thushara's death reduced these vows to jest.
Ragging continues. The seniors at the Hardy Institute did not learn the hard lesson. They made Kelum go through similar torture with the same horrendous conclusion.
Kelum Thushara started his term at the Hardy Institute at Ampara on December 1. For several days his batch of freshers had been severely ragged by seniors using torturous methods. When he was admitted to Ampara hospital his left arm and the left part of the chest were swollen and he was suffering from renal failure. He also smelled of alcohol. The next day, December 8, he was transferred to the Kandy General Hospital.
Dr. H.S.R. Wijemanne Consultant Physician of the Kandy General Hospital was one of the battery of doctors who treated the young student during his 21 day hospital ordeal, as he fought for life before he passed away on December 29.
"He was rather alert around the fifth day of admission. When I questioned him, he said that he had been made to do forward and backward rolls (somersaults) and dips for an extended period of time."
When
Kelum was diagnosed as suffering from acute renal failure he was put on
dialysis at the Kandy General Hospital. After 7 to 8 days of this treatment
no recovery was apparent.
"Usually kidneys begin to recover while on dialysis but in Kelum's case they never recovered," Dr. Wijemanne said.
Then the hospital gave him advanced treatment called Haemo Dialysis. Here, the artery is connected to a machine where the impurities of the blood are cleared by the machine which synthesises the kidney function.
A week before he died the boy developed respiratory failure. Then he was put on a ventilator. Because of his weak state Kelum developed septicaemia.
"His condition went downhill because he developed one complication after another," Dr. Wijemanne said. He also said that there were many external marks of abuse.
"There was no chance of his surviving a trip abroad for treatment as he was totally dependent on machines for his vital functions," he said.
As the dust settles on another rag victim, recommendations made by the three member committee to contain ragging in universities are now with the Higher Education Authorities awaiting approval from the Parliament. Authorities were hedgy about divulging the recommendations until they had passed government procedure.
But one thing is clear, quick and drastic action needs to be taken.
When people exercise severely and over the limit their muscle cells disintegrate and start releasing a substance called myoglobin. This is a protein which then clogs the kidneys and renders them dysfunctional.
"Passing of blood with urine is a symptom," Dr. Wijemanne said. He added that they are still unsure how this could have caused such severe damage to the kidneys in both young students that they never recovered. He feels that they would have been forced to keep to the severe exercise routine for a long time to have such kidney damage.
It was one of the most sorrowful days for the villagers of Arandara, six kilometres off Galigamuwa on the Avissawella road. The usually reserved villagers, were seething with anger at the ragging that had claimed the life of the son of a poor farmer of the village.
By the time the body of Kelum Thushara Wijetunga, 22, was brought home, Tuesday night, the village was in turmoil.
His parents were still unable to believe that their 'bright son' was no more.
Thushara's mother weeping hysterically insisted that those responsible for her son's death be executed as well.
"Only parents who strive hard to educate their children would realise the trauma we undergo," said Thushara's father R.P.Piyasena.
The humble living conditions of the Piyasena family said it all. Piyasena has no job and is unable to farm or do any other skilled work he did earlier being subject to various illnesses. His parents had high hopes for Thushara and his education would have meant a lot to them.
"I certainly did not expect him to die at the hands of his fellow students; it's a disgrace, to the whole nation," Piyasena said.
Thushara's sister Priyangika Udayangani 24, and younger brother Danushka Sanjeewa, 14, are at a loss as to how to react to this act of brutalism by a group of senior students.
Priyangika who completed a diploma in droughtsmanship and is on the verge of completing a civil engineer's course at the Warakapola Technical College, is now looked upon as the bread winner for the family.
It is too late now, to bring Thushara back to life, but one could only wonder how much he could have helped his family with his determination to succeed.
According to his teachers, Thushara was an exceptional student from his early days at school, grasping every bit of information, and also leading the way for others. "He was the class monitor right throughout his schooldays, and also a prefect," said his father proudly. He passed his O/Ls and A/Ls , qualifying for higher studies.
Piyasena, who had built many dreams around his clever son, is the most disappointed. "Teachers never called him by his name, they affectionately called him 'son'. This is the end of me. Without Thushara there is no meaning in my life," he said.
Being the persevering student he was, Thushara wasted no time on completion of his secondary school education, at the Dudley Senanayake Central College, in 1994. He entered the Kegalle Technical College, and followed the NDT in Agricultural Technology.
In 1997 he was selected to do the draughtsman's course at the Hardy Institute in Ampara. It was a moment of joy, and hopes were high among family members. But little did they know what awaited him.
"We
did not bring him up for two decades, for anybody to injure or insult him,"
said Piyasena angrily.
Thushara who left home on November 30th, to the Hardy Institute, took with him Rs.1000. But the very next day, the raggers had extracted Rs.400 from him, to buy liqour, and also forced him to stay back at the hostel despite Thushara's pleas to release him. Piyasena said that his son, on seeing the horrors of ragging, had wanted to go and stay with his aunt, but 'they never let him go."
"My son never touched liquor, nor does anybody in my family," Piyasena said. But he was forced to drink several bottles of alcohol. He was forced to get in a dirty pool, crawl on his knees on a sandy floor, and each time a mistake was made, do repeated squats with fingers on ears. He was also requested to eat the left over food, or starve. Some of Thushara's classmates who had gathered at the funeral, claimed that he was one of the best behaved boys at school, and outside. "He wouldn't touch liquor nor associate with such company. The raggers should have spared him," lamented one mate.
Thushara in a letter to his parents had written of the tormenting moments of the rag, and told them that he hardly had any money with him. Piyasena on reading this had immediately sent Rs.1000 to his son. "He never got this money, instead I received a message saying that my son had been admitted to the Kandy General Hospital, and was between life and death."
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