DR Carleen Allen, who just recently graduated from the University of the West Indies, yesterday won the inaugural Scotiabank Jamaica Award for Paediatrics, for outstanding performance in her final MBBS examinations.

Allen, who competed with more than 100 of her classmates, received US$2,500, along with a plaque, which will be displayed in the Faculty of Medical Sciences at the university.

“I am very, very thankful, because this award did not exist before,” she said. “. I was very surprised and very grateful,” she added.

She is currently an intern at the Kingston Public Hospital and has completed two rotations so far – three months of paediatrics at the Bustamante Children’s Hospital and another three at the Victoria Jubliee Hospital, where she practised obstetrics and gynaecology.

Dr Anthony Mullings, deputy dean in the Faculty of Medical Sciences at the UWI, lauded Scotiabank for providing the award and demonstrating that corporate Jamaica can help.

“We in the faculty feel very honoured that you, Scotiabank Jamaica, have seen it fit to offer this recognition of the work we do as a reward for the efforts of our students,” Dr Mullings said. “It is gestures like these which help to strengthen the resolve to fight on amidst the difficulties and to strive to achieve the highest good,” said Mullings.

He added that incentives such as the Scotiabank award encourage the development of the discipline of paediatrics and fosters “life-long growth and multiple returns”.

At the same time, he urged other companies to emulate Scotiabank’s generous gesture in order for students who perform well to obtain financial assistance. “For this, I believe, will have to be one of the answers to the current dilemma that we in the university face, that of reduction of financial contributions.”

The award, he said, was also vital for students who face financial challenges as they pursue their dreams in a time when rising costs and reduced subsidies leave more of the burden on the student to fund their tertiary education.