Dr. Nirmala Wijesinha - Juggling The Roles Of Mother, Wife And Doctor! 

Empowering women to participate fully in economic life across all sectors is essential to build stronger economies, achieve internationally agreed goals for development and sustainability, and improve the quality of life for women, men, families and communities. Women of Sri Lanka have held positions of political power, have led spiritual lives as Buddhist nuns, have been poets, teachers, doctors, and labourers on farms and in factories. In 1931 Sri Lanka became one of the first countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America to permit women to vote. 

Radiology is not often spoken of and tends to be a neglected area in the medical field as far as the general public is concerned. Little do we realise that a radiologist plays an extremely important role in our healthcare. They are expert consultants to referring physicians. Radiologists work with your personal physician to choose the exam that fits your needs. They are physicians who specialise in diagnosing and treating disease and injury by using medical imaging techniques, and will recommend further scans or treatments, if necessary. If the radiologist makes a mistake, you can be in for a great deal of trouble! 

In the wake of this revelation, Daily Mirror’s - W@W, decided to meet up and ask a few questions from Dr. Nirmala Wijesinha, Consultant Radiologist, and one of the very few radiologists who performs the liver elastography procedure. 

What are the necessary factors and the vital ingredients to achieve a balance and be successful in all three of these demanding roles – mother, wife and doctor? 

“Cut not the wings of your dreams, 
for they are the heartbeat and the freedom of your soul” - Flavia 

Being a doctor - was it a childhood dream like in most little girls, or did you just stumble upon it? 

I always wanted to be a doctor. I never had any doubts about it. Never thought of any other profession. It was my dream from childhood. After receiving a scholarship given by the government of India I proceeded to Jaipur to do my MBBS. 

What inspired you to be a radiologist? 

My passion was to do general medicine but as that field required a lot of on call night duty and I was newly married, I thought I need to select a field where I could have a happy married life without neglecting my husband too much. The choice left was Pathology or Radiology. I chose to specialise in Radiology as it was an interesting field and contact with patients was more than in Pathology. 

What are the areas covered by you as a radiologist? 

MRI, CT, Ultra Sound, liver elastography  X-ray reporting, Bariums, IVPs, guided whole body biopsies including breast, mammograms, Vacuum extraction biopsies are just some of the areas covered by me. 

A typical weekday for you would be? 

Since my son is studying overseas now, my work schedule is totally different to what it used to be. When I get up in the morning, I arrange the house, do the laundry, prepare breakfast and if I have time, I do a little bit of gardening. Then I go to work and am at Nawaloka Hospital until around 3pm after which I go to Central Hospital. Then I would go home and attend to personal work and get back to work around 6.00pm. After all that is when I get some exercise. I generally do a brisk walk for about an hour before I return home. 

With a busy job such as yours, how do you balance the roles of mother, wife and doctor? 

When my son was here I used to work as well as take him for his tuition and sports activities. As all three roles are equally important and equally demanding, a support system that is strong and steady is necessary to be successful. 

Pros and cons of being a radiologist? 

It’s a field where you can help the clinicians to arrive at a diagnosis. The clinicians depend on the reports given by the radiologist. We are a very involved and important part of medicine because, without us they will not be able to function. The downside is that we don’t have our own patient-base. Patients are only referred to us. Sometimes we don’t even see the patients, we only give reports. Hence the doctor-patient bond is something we rarely have. 

What are the hot new areas of radiology? 

The hottest part of radiology is Interventional Radiology where without doing surgery they try to correct various conditions such as brain tumours, ablation of liver tumours, Coiling of Aneurysms, Arterio Venous Malformations and many more. It’s less damaging and it can be done with less morbidity and mortality. The success rate is very high. As of now we are in the process of developing Interventional Radiology in Sri Lanka. 

What procedures do you commonly perform? 

Ultrasound, breast and liver elastography is what I mostly do. Then of course I get the MRI, Mammogram, CT scan reporting  etc. 

What do you look forward to in your line of work? 

I look forward to going for conferences abroad as it’s a huge learning experience. 

What would you say is the key to being a successful career woman? 

Having good support staff is of utmost importance. You need the support of your husband, family, extended family and good domestic help. If these factors are not available then you can just crash at some point. This support system will enhance your coping mechanisms. If you are unable to attend to the needs of your children then it makes no sense to be successful. Hence you need the support system in place to help with the children’s needs whilst you are busy with work. 

Interviewed by Niro Waidyaratne