Carlo Fonseka

Fonseka was born on 4 March 1933 in Colombo, Ceylon.^[2] His family were Roman Catholics.^[3][4] He was educated at Maris Stella College, Negombo and St. Joseph's College, Colombo.^[2][5][6] After school he joined the University of Ceylon's Faculty of Medicine in Colombo in 1955, graduating in 1960 with a first class MBBS degree.^[7][8][9]

After graduating Fonseka joined the Colombo General Hospital as an intern under professor K. Rajasuria and senior surgeon Dr. Noel Bartholomeusz.^[8] He then joined the base hospital in Mirigama, near his home village of Divulapitiya, as a medical officer.^[8] In 1962 Fonseka joined the University of Ceylon's Department of Physiology as a lecturer.^[8] He joined the University of Edinburgh's Department of Physiology in 1964 to pursue his doctoral studies, obtaining a Ph.D. in 1966.^[8][9]

Fonseka returned to the University of Ceylon's Department of Physiology in 1967.^[8] He was a professor at the department from 1982 and 1989.^[10] The North Colombo Medical College (NCMC), a private medical school, was nationalised in 1989 and in 1991 became the Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya with Fonseka as its first dean.^[7][11] He served as dean until 1997.^[12] He was chairman of the Board of Management of the University of Colombo's Postgraduate Institute of Medicine from 1996 to 1997 and from 1998 to 2001.^[13] The University of Colombo appointed Fonseka as an emeritus professor in July 2000.^[14] He was also appointed emeritus professor by the University of Kelaniya.^[15]

Fonseka was appointed president of the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) in January 2012.^[16][17][18] The appointment was opposed by the Sri Lanka Medical Faculty Students' Action Committee alleging that it had been made under political influence.^[19] Fonseka's tenure at the SLMC was to end in December 2016 but the government extended it by six months.^[18][20] Fonseka resigned at the end of June 2017.^[18][20]

Fonseka was a prominent member of the Trotskyist Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP).^[21][22] He was a member of the party's central committee and politburo and led its branch in Kotte.^[23][24][25] Fonseka was a vocal critic of private medical education and campaigned against the NCMC in the early 1980s.^[26] Whilst president of the SLMC he was highly critical of the South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM), a private medical school.^[27][28][29] After leaving the SLMC Fonseka claimed he would work to "topple the government" on the SAITM issue.^[30]

Fonseka received a M.A. degree from the University of Kelaniya in 1999.^[31] He was a fellow of the Ceylon College of Physicians and the Sri Lanka College of General Practitioners.^[32] He has served as president of the Arts Council of Sri Lanka, chairman of the Vijaya Kumaratunga Memorial Hospital, chairman of the National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol and was a member of the University Grants Commission.^[33][34][35] Fonseka was one of six South-East Asia Region awardees of the World No Tobacco Day 2012 Awards.^[36] He was a lyricist and composer and has produced a number of albums including Carlochita Gee (1992), Raththaran Duwe (2006)^{[37][38][39][40][41]} and Koida Kiya (2015).^[42]