History of Sri Lanka College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

In Colonial Ceylon while the Colombo Medical College offered a solid base to the doctors, professional cohesion was provided by the Ceylon branch of the British Medical Association founded in 1887, which subsequently became the Ceylon Medical Association (1951) and then the SLMA in 1972.

In the UK the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists was founded in 1929, sometime after the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons. In Ceylon it took another twenty-four years before steps were taken to form an association or society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

The forerunner organisation of the SLCOG, Ceylon Obstetrics and Gynaecological Association (COGA) was established in 1953.  The inaugural meeting was held at the residence of Dr. (Mrs) May Ratnayake, St. Bryce dale, Ward Place, Colombo 07 on the 19th of November 1953 when a committee was elected to frame a constitution.

Ceylon Obstetrics and Gynaecological Association was started in 1953 more or less in the manner of a welfare organisation with membership limited to doctors with special interest in Obstetrics and/ or Gynaecology, who were infused with motivation and commitment prevalent in the post-independent era, with the intention to reduce maternal mortality.

In the editorial of the first journal (1954) it says, “The Association of Obstetrics and Gynaecology is not a trade union, nor does it exist for the main purpose of fighting for the rights and privileges of its members. The only fight that figures in our aims is that against maternal and infant mortality”.

This organisation become known as the Association of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of Ceylon, which had all the hall marks of a truly professional organisation in 1967 with a membership limited to Obstetricians and Gynaecologists with clear objectives designed to improve the skills and knowledge of the membership and thereby improve the healthcare of women of Ceylon. Subsequently, its status was upgraded to the position of a College: the Ceylon College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Finally, with the adoption and enactment of the Constitution of the Republic of Sri Lanka (Ceylon) in 1972, by the Constituent Assembly, the Organisation came to be called Sri Lanka College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.