Tribute to Sir Cecil Cyrus - Vijay Naryansingh
I first met Dr. Cecil Cyrus at a medical conference in St Lucia, April 1975. I was an intern and he was a well-established Consultant Surgeon. In spite of his grand stature as a surgeon, he took the time to talk and invited me to spend a week at the hospital in St Vincent. I had little money and could not accept the offer; then he said “you won't have to spend a cent once you arrive in St Vincent”. He put me in the doctor's quarters and I spent one of the most enlightening weeks of my entire career. To be in close contact with a surgeon who could do everything was amazing. In addition to his FRCS, he had diplomas in Ophthalmology and O&G and had a fondness for Dermatology. He literally did everything- cataracts, tonsils, goitres, thoracotomies, all obstetric and gynecology, urology, plastic surgery, pediatric surgery, orthopedics, neurosurgery and anesthetics. Much of this is well documented in his book ‘A Clinical and Pathological Atlas’ for which he was granted the ChM by his University in Ireland.
Tribute to Sir Cecil Cyrus - Prof. Emeritus Sir Errol Walrond
Your Excellencies, --- Lady Kathryn and the Cyrus family --- It is with great humility that I stand before you today to pay tribute to a great surgeon, a dedicated servant to the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, a role model for a generation of surgeons in the Caribbean and a founding father and Honorary fellow of the Caribbean College of Surgeons. Cecil, if I am allowed to breach protocol for a friend of over 50 years, was driven to serve through achieving mastery in all of his endeavours, whether tackling some broken body with whatever household item he could find when items of surgical equipment were not available; photographing everything he did to have an incomparable record which left experienced surgeons in awe; this all before the easy days of cell phone cameras. He was an incomparable host to visiting colleagues and he delighted in showing off his skills in home building and his beautiful garden which left one with little cause to visit the Botanical Gardens next door.
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