Arumugam Sittampalam

Arumugam Sittampalam died on 4 August 2001 after a stroke. Sitt, to his friends and colleagues, was born on 30 November 1922 in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. He qualified in 1949 at the University of Colombo, later obtaining the DPM, FRCP (Edin) and FRCPsych. From 1957-1971 he worked for the Ceylon Health Service as the senior psychiatrist. He left Sri Lanka in 1971 for Canada, where he was senior psychiatrist at the union hospital in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, but soon decided to come to the UK where he worked first from 1972-1979 as medical officer at HMP Brixton and then from 1979 as a consultant forensic psychiatrist at Rampton Hospital. This meant that he was separated from his family, who were settled in London, so in 1981 he moved to Broadmoor where he worked until his retirement in 1992.

Sitt was a quietly spoken, modest and intensely private man dedicated to his family. At Broadmoor his wide clinical experience, his diligence and his sound judgment were a tremendous asset and a stabilising influence, making him admired and respected by friends and colleagues of all disciplines. Towards the end of his time at Broadmoor he founded a dining club for doctors who had worked there, but disappointingly this did not long survive his retirement. At Broadmoor his generosity will long be remembered.

In the years following his retirement he spent his time with his grandchildren or gardening and watching sport. He leaves his wife, Puaneswary, and four sons and a daughter.