Professor Vidya Jyothi Mohamed Hussain Rezvi Sheriff, , Emeritus Professor of Medicine and one of Sri Lanka’s most prominent nephrologists, died yesterday evening while treating a patient at a private nursing home in Colombo. He was 77.
Family sources confirmed the passing of the pioneering physician, who was widely regarded as the “Father of Nephrology” in Sri Lanka for establishing the country’s first kidney transplant programme and dialysis services.
Professor Sheriff founded Western Hospital (formerly Western Infirmary) in 1984 and served as its chairman. He performed Sri Lanka’s first kidney transplant in October 1985 alongside Prof. A.H. Sheriffdeen and played a central role in more than 1,000 subsequent transplants. For decades he headed the Department of Clinical Medicine at the University of Colombo’s Faculty of Medicine, served as Senior Professor of Medicine, and later held the same position at General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University until his retirement.
A prolific academic, he trained generations of Sri Lankan doctors, mentored specialists in nephrology, and contributed to national health policy on chronic kidney disease. He also served as president of the Sri Lanka Medical Association, Ceylon College of Physicians, Sri Lanka Association for Nephrology and Transplantation, and several international bodies including the SAARC Society of Nephrology, Urology and Transplant Surgery. In 2011 he was ranked Sri Lanka’s most prolific scientist by the Web of Science database.
Among his many honours was the Vidya Jyothi title conferred by the Government of Sri Lanka in 1993 for his pioneering work in nephrology, dialysis and transplantation. He held fellowships from the Royal College of Physicians (London and Edinburgh), the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and the National Academy of Sciences of Sri Lanka.
In a personal twist to his life’s work, Professor Sheriff himself underwent a successful kidney transplant at Western Hospital in October 2022 after battling diabetes, hypertension and related complications.
Controversies and Allegations
Professor Sheriff’s career was not without controversy. In 2019 he filed complaints with the Criminal Investigation Department after social media posts alleged that he had treated Zahran Hashim, the prime suspect in the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings. He strongly denied the claims.
In late 2022 and early 2023, Western Hospital and Professor Sheriff, as its director, became embroiled in a high-profile investigation by the Colombo Crime Division into an alleged kidney transplant racket. Authorities accused the hospital of failing to comply with a Colombo Chief Magistrate’s order to hand over original patient and donor records. Reports claimed brokers had lured low-income donors with promises of large payments (Rs. 5–12 million) for kidneys, which were then transplanted into local and foreign recipients. Court documents at the time noted that six donors underwent procedures at the hospital between August and November 2022, and that one of those kidneys had been transplanted into Professor Sheriff himself. The hospital filed a writ petition denying the allegations and describing them as part of a “manipulative media agenda.” No final convictions have been publicly reported in connection with the case.
Professor Sheriff is survived by his wife and children.
Tributes have begun pouring in from the medical community, with many describing him as a visionary who transformed kidney care in Sri Lanka despite the controversies that marked parts of his later years. His legacy as an educator, clinician and pioneer remains undisputed even as the full circumstances of his final hours are still emerging.
