Castries, Saint Lucia: Saint Lucia hosted an award ceremony to honour the hard work and dedication of the medical professionals at a grand gala within the local medical fraternity. The awards also recognized those who have exemplified admirable determination and drive.
The Saint Lucia Medical and Dental Association convenes the awards, and awardees are distinguished through their outstanding work in the fields of medicine and dentistry.
Notably, the keynote speaker for this year’s ceremony was Chief Medical Officer Dr Sharon Belmar-George. She had participated in a two-day CARICOM conference focused on improving crime across the region.
Dr Belmar presented on the topic, “Crime as a Public Health Issue.”
She stated that crime can be tackled through public health, among many strategies placed on the table. “Tackling crime through public health was among the many strategies placed on the table.”
She offered many recommendations to mitigate crime using the public health approach. She further emphasized the importance of data collection in the pushback against crime across the region.
Awards of the evening
The awards ceremony presented many awards to the medical professionals, which marked their untiring efforts and dedication towards their work, such as,
– Outstanding Dentist of the Year is Dr Randall Boriel
– Most dedicated team members went to Dr Samantha Mathurin
– Dr Kyra Joseph won an award for an Outstanding intern
– Dr Aylwin Benjamin walked away with the Outstanding Physician award
– Outstanding District Medical Officer for 2023 was Dr Delphina Vernor
– Dr Christi Gerald secured a place as an Outstanding Jr Physician
The SLMDA was given an opportunity to pay homage to longstanding physicians through its Lifetime Achievement Award.
This year’s Lifetime Achievement award went to Dr Mehn Soe, who retired in May 2024 as a consultant at the St Jude Hospital.
The SLMDA awards ceremony also marked the beginning of the annual conference, which spans a period of two days in Saint Lucia.