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UWI TODAY
– SUNDAY 9 SEPTEMBER, 2018
OBITUARY – DR. ANDY BHAGWANDASS
As doctors, we
areexpectedtobe
comfortable with
death. After all,
in our profession
it is a constant
c o m p a n i o n ,
hov e r i ng j u s t
out of eyesight
i n o u r d a i l y
routine. We do
our best to delay
t he inev i t abl e
while balancing
our concern for
the quality of life
of our patients.
Does this mean
we a re b e t t e r
prepared for its appearance?
The sudden passing of our colleague and
friend, Andy, generated ripples of shock and
dismay throughout the medical fraternity. As
we reflect on a life, cut short in its prime, can we
inspire ourselves and our students with Andy’s
unique approach to the profession, which to him
was no mere job, but a calling?
Andywas a very dedicated and compassionate
doctor, who treated each patient as a whole
person and not simply as a diseased body part.
With his gift of gab, he was able to explain his
thinking and treatment protocol to his patients
in terms they could understand. He listened and
guided them and their families into making the
best decision for their particular case. Recently,
the relatives of a terminally ill patient told me a
story about their loved one who was in a private
hospital accruing a huge bill. Andy called them
aside and explained that there was no advantage
to the patient being in hospital. As expected, the
patient passed away, but at home surrounded by
loved ones. The relatives valued that moment of
honesty and consideration from him, and still
recall it, many years later.
He empathized with his patients and was
readily available to them, allowing nothing
to hinder him from getting them the best
treatment options. I remember going to see
A LIFEWELL LIVED
B Y T E R E N C E S E E M U N G A L
Andy Bhagwandass
graduated in
1999 with the Doctor of Medicine
(DM), and in 1993 with the Medical
Bachelor, Bachelor of Surgery-MB,
BS, at Mona Jamaica. He became a
Lecturer in Adult Medicine in 2001,
UWI, St. Augustine and co-authored
two articles (2002 and 2003) in
Lupus and the West Indian Medical
Journal, respectively.
“This volume focuses
on how e a r l y n a t i v e
communities in the region
practised various forms
of agriculture from 8,000
years ago to the period of
European contact. Given its
multiple case studies and
its discussion of state-of-
the-art technologies, the book should be of
immense value to archaeologists, ecologists,
biogeographers and agriculturalists,” says
Dr. Basil Reid, the editor of the 17 chapters
covered in “The Archaeology of Caribbean
andCircum-CaribbeanFarmers 6000-BC–AD
1500.”
According to the publishers, Routledge, it
spans “awide geographic reach stretching from
the Florida Keys in the north to the Guianas in
the south,” and “places a well-needed academic
spotlight on what is generally considered
an integral topic in Caribbean and circum-
Caribbean archaeology.”
“The book explores a variety of issues,
including the introduction and dispersal of
early cultivars, plant manipulation, animal
domestication, dietary profiles, and landscape
modifications. Contributors discuss their
findings within multiple constructs such
as neolithisation, social interaction, trade,
mobility, social complexity, migration,
colonisation, and historical ecology. Multiple
data sources are used which include but are
not restricted to rock art, cooking pits and
pots, stable isotopes, dental calculus and
pathologies, starch grains, and proxies for past
environmental conditions.”
It is available online.
Dr. Basil Reid is a Senior Lecturer in
Archaeology, in the Department of History
at The UWI, St. Augustine.
one of his patients only to be told that she had
arrested earlier at 3 a.m. Andy had been there
and accompanied her in the ambulance to the
ICU at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences
Complex. Though this may not seemparticularly
extraordinary, whilst in the ambulance, Andy was
working on resuscitating her!
When the Faculty of Medical Sciences, at
The UWI, offered the Doctor of Medicine in
Internal Medicine, in Trinidad, in 2007, Andy
immediately expressed an interest. He could see
the need for this programme to build capacity,
at the Specialist level, in Internal Medicine in
Trinidad and Tobago. I could depend on him for
sound advice and, when he thought fit, scathing
criticismof the programme! He had several ideas
for the programme and before his sudden death,
we had an in-depth conversation, only a few
days before, about his plans for expansion of his
teaching sessions with the students.
He was very appreciative of his lecturers who
guided him along his medical journey. I recall
visiting his home when he had a “curry lime”
in honour of two of his mentors, Professors
Michael Lee and Owen Morgan of the Mona
Campus. With tears in his eyes (unusual for him),
he thanked them for their contributions to his
professional training.
Andy however, was not all work. He organized
a doctors’ ‘cook out’ at EWMSC recently and
I hope this cultural event will continue in his
absence in memory of him.
He enjoyed a close-knit family relationship
– full of laughter and love. His mother was
particularly proud of her boys: two doctors
and a pharmacist, but joked that with all their
qualifications, she wished one of them could
repair her broken tap!
One of the rites of passage for a doctor is the
recitation of this paragraph from the Hippocratic
Oath –
“If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life
and art, respected while I live and remembered
with affection thereafter.”
If I could say onemore thing toAndy, it would
be this: Bravo, my friend. Congratulations on a
life well lived and a job well done. You will be
sorely missed.
Professor Terence Seemungal is Dean of The UWI’s Faculty of Medical Sciences, where
Dr. Andy Bhagwandass was an Internist and Associate Lecturer until his passing on July 28, 2018.
Digging Up
The Farm
The Archaeology of Caribbean
and Circum-Caribbean
Farmers 6000 BC–AD 1500
