Easton Douglas, minister of health, highlighted the women who were doing exceptionally well in the medical profession. He took the time to share that it was remarkable that women were occupying lead roles in different aspects of the field and were very good at their jobs.

Published Monday, June 29, 1992

Association of Surgeons elects first female head

DR. Barbara Lyle-Harper, outstanding Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) specialist, made local history on Saturday when she was invested as the first woman president of the 34-year-old Association of Surgeons in Jamaica (ASJ).

Her rise to the pinnacle of the Association of Surgeons was hailed by Health Minister, the Hon. Easton Douglas, as a further confirmation of the advancement of women in the field of health.

The investiture of Dr Lyle-Harper was a high point of the ASJ’s annual conference, held at The Pegasus hotel in New Kingston. Mr Douglas, in the opening address, described the ASJ as one of the country’s most respected professional bodies.

In his tribute to Dr Lyle-Harper for her outstanding contribution to health care in Jamaica, the Minister also praised the increasing number of women who were choosing a career in the field and doing well at it.

He said that Jamaican women had excelled in specialities such as obstetrics, paediatrics, administration, and surgery even when women physicians were rare.  But their number was steadily increasing, with 19 of the 42 medical doctors trained locally in 1990 being female.

Women now comprised 40 per cent of the 344 doctors on staff at the Health Ministry, where they were predominant in the areas of health administration, public health, and paediatrics, he said.

Head

Women also headed the Jamaica Medical Council, the Medical Association of Jamaica, and the Paediatric Association. In addition, women were at the top of several major national hospitals, health programmes, and other organisations in the health sector.

He cited statistics showing that women constituted 51 per cent of the population, 46 per cent of the labour force, headed 42 per cent of households in the country, and experienced unemployment at twice the rate of men.

“In this situation … our female doctors in all categories must be highly commended for the changes they are bringing about by their career choices, determination in the face of difficulties, and largely exemplary dedication to service,” the Minister said.

Dr Lyle-Harper who has been Vice-President and President-elect of the ASJ since 1990, will serve a term of two years.  The Minister praised her as a “most valued” consultant to his Ministry in the Kingston Hospital Region.

The new ASJ President began her surgical clerkship at the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) in 1962 before going on to do postgraduate work at the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinborough.

She has served as head of the KPH’s ENT department for several years and is an Associate Lecturer in ENT surgery at the University of the West Indies (UWI).  She has been involved with the UWI’s postgraduate degree programme since its inception in 1974 and has been an Honorary Consultant at the UHWI since the 1970s.

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