Suitable candidate identified to head GPHC’s Ophthalmology Dept.

A new Head of Ophthalmology is expected to be shortly appointed at the Georgetown Public Hospital

Minister of Public Health, Dr George Norton

Corporation (GPHC). This move has become imperative with the appointment of Dr George Norton as Minister of the Public Health Ministry, formerly the Ministry of Health.
Dr Norton’s Government appointment follows on the heels of the May 11, 2015 National and Regional Elections which saw the A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) Coalition being elected to power. He will function as senior Minister within the Ministry while Dr Karen Cummings will function as the junior Minister.
The newly-appointed senior Health Minister held the position of GPHC’s Head of Ophthalmology for several years. And based on his knowledge of the personnel of the public health facility, Dr Norton during an interview with this publication yesterday disclosed that currently the only person who can fill his former capacity is Consultant Ophthalmologist and Glaucoma Specialist, Dr Shailendra Sugrim.
Ahead of undergoing extensive training in the field, the Health Minister yesterday confided that Dr Sugrim was a medical student who he personally helped to groom.
“I remember teaching Dr Sugrim as a medical student. He is brilliant, brilliant by any standard…and he wanted to do Ophthalmology, and I was so pleased that you can get somebody who wanted to do Ophthalmology…” recounted Dr Norton.
At the time, Dr Norton intimated that the possibility of advanced training in Ophthalmology was rather slim. However, he informed that he lobbied for post graduate training for the young doctor.
But the proactive young doctor did not sit around waiting. “He did his own part, he went to Cuba off of his own

Dr Shailendra Sugrim

but couldn’t get post graduate (training). Eventually he ended up having his postgraduate done in Bangladesh,” related the Public Health Minister.
And based on the training that the young doctor was able to undergo, the Health Minister confidently assured that Dr Sugrim is today a well trained Ophthalmologist who is ready to take over.
“He will take over from me. He is such a meticulous person that I can even see him heading the Georgetown Hospital as Director of Medical and Professional Services. He is young, he is intelligent and he has got all of the energies needed,” the Minister added.
When Dr Sugrim’s advancement is taken into consideration, the Health Minister noted that it stresses the importance of training. And according to him, as the new Health Minister he plans on making, among other things, training of health personnel a priority.