A young Trinida­di­an doc­tor’s stel­lar aca­d­e­m­ic achieve­ment is a source of im­mense pride for the coun­try as well as his peers and col­leagues in the med­ical pro­fes­sion.

On March 13 Dr Pan­duran­ga Dat­ta­treya See­ta­hal-Maraj, 37, MBBS MRCS, FRCS Neu­ro­surgery, re­ceived the pres­ti­gious Nor­man Dott Medal for out­stand­ing per­for­mance in the Fel­low­ship of the Roy­al Col­lege of Sur­geons (FRCS) Neu­ro­surgery ex­am­i­na­tions.

He ob­tained the high­est marks over­all in the UK. While the ex­am­i­na­tions were con­duct­ed in 2023, the fe­lic­i­ta­tion cer­e­mo­ny to present the award was held in Belfast, Ire­land, ear­li­er this month.

He pre­sent­ed the UK’s first and largest case se­ries on fe­to­scop­ic re­pair of neur­al tube de­fects at the event.

Dr See­ta­hal-Maraj is the first Caribbean doc­tor to ob­tain the high­est marks in the rig­or­ous FRCS ex­am­i­na­tions.

He is a neu­ro­sur­geon at the San Fer­nan­do Gen­er­al Hos­pi­tal and is em­ployed by the South West Re­gion­al Health Au­thor­i­ty (SWRHA). He is cur­rent­ly on a leave of ab­sence from SWRHA and is a Se­nior Clin­i­cal Fel­low at Kings Col­lege Hos­pi­tal in Lon­don, where he is mid­way through the pae­di­atric neu­ro­surgery fel­low­ship pro­gramme.

Dr See­ta­hal-Maraj is a for­mer na­tion­al schol­ar­ship win­ner (sci­ence),and has pub­lished sev­er­al pa­pers in lo­cal, re­gion­al and in­ter­na­tion­al med­ical jour­nals.