Chooti Wedahamine Sanduni, who mysteriously died after an eye disease

The sudden demise of a talented young twenty-year-old female physician from Agalawatta, Migihinwatta, has become an incident that has shocked the entire region. Known affectionately as "Chuti Weda Hamine" (Little Lady Doctor), she was a person who saved the lives of many who had been bitten by snakes.

The renowned snake venom physician, Samarasinha Weda Mahatha, who cured patients from various parts of the island including Meegahathenna and Polgampala, was her grandfather. After the demise of her grandfather, who lived for a hundred years, it was Sanduni Nisansala, the last link in this lineage of physicians, who took on the responsibility of carrying forward this traditional medical practice.

She also served as a Dhamma school teacher at the Maddekanda Thambagiri Viharaya and quickly earned the respect of the local residents after starting her medical practice. However, after Thambagiri Viharadhipathi Pandeniye Rewatha Thero noticed one of her eyes had turned red, she visited the Colombo Eye Hospital with her mother last December. Following examinations there, she was admitted for inpatient treatment based on medical advice.

Transferred from the Eye Hospital to the National Hospital, and then to the Cardiac Unit, she was receiving treatment in the Intensive Care Unit when doctors stated that about forty percent of her heart had become inactive. Exactly one month after being hospitalized, on the night of January 8th, she returned home on the shoulders of four people, plunging her parents and relatives, who had wished for her recovery, into eternal sorrow.

Her mother, Mrs. Ranjani Senaratne, tearfully recalled that even at the moment she left home for the hospital, she had given medicine to a patient who had come to their house. Her mother stated that she had practiced medicine with her grandfather from the age of six and continued that service uninterrupted even after his demise, engaging in medical practice until the day she fell ill. Her aunt, Mrs. Swarna Ranjani, mentioned that her daughter, who had complained of a headache and a red eye, was suddenly lost in this manner.

Mr. Tushara Samarasinha, a relative, commenting on her talent, recalled how she had correctly identified the snake and treated the patient, even though they couldn't catch the snake that bit a patient brought from the Horawala area of Matugama, by only seeing a part of the snake's tail, and cured the patient.

The final rites for Chuti Weda Hamine, whose passing brought tears to many eyes, were performed last 10th evening, as the sun set, near her grandfather's grave in the Polgampala family cemetery.