Andrew Holness 
 Family Physician 
 Meridian Medical Centre

By Suelika N. Buchanan

Dr. Andrew Holness

(Basseterre; St. Kitts): Andrew Holness, of the Meridian Medical Centre has been a Family Physician for the past ten years.

You may know him from the Meridian Medical Corner, which is a radio program on Winn FM every Wednesday morning, where he and his wife respond to questions and issues raised by radio callers on health.

“I am really proud of it, because, I didn’t realize the significant thirst for information people have concerning common health issues,” he said.

“I’m not necessarily certain as to why there is that lack of information- either people are not getting the information or they are not asking- but there is that lack,” the Doctor noted.

Holness said being a family physician is just like a general practioner but the focus is more on the health of an individual, as it relates to a family or an environment, instead of focusing on the individual only.

“The family physician's philosophy, I suppose, is one in where a person, whatever problem they come with, comes in the context of being part of a family. However, his/her illness doesn’t just affect them alone but it also affects the people around them,” he said.

Dr. Andrew Holness and his wife Dr. Caroline Lawrence

“For someone who has been diagnosed with diabetes, there comes certain dietary exercise management strategies for them. It is not just about that person and that special diet it is about how the whole family is going to adjust. That is the essence of a family physician," he stated.

He believes that the practice of medicine is not at that stage where one person gives orders but it should be at the stage where doctor, patient, family and nurse, operate as a team. It is the combination of everyone’s effort that advances the health of the person or community.

“My position is that any given person should know about their medical status," he said.

The radio program was started in October 2006 as Holness and his wife felt strongly about three health issues- high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease.

He says that chronic non-communicable diseases are what people have to battle with apart from HIV/AIDS as the population ages.

“It is imperative that we do more and learn more about chronic and non-communicable diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, arthritis… and their complications,” he said.

“So we are very pleased to be giving information and advice and getting a feedback from the public on these matters and others.”

Holness moved to St. Kitts in 2004 with his wife, Caroline Lawrence, who is originally from St. Kitts and is also a doctor.

Lawrence also works at the Meridian Centre and is an Internist and Cardiologist specializing in Internal Medicine and Cardiology.

~~Adz:Left~~They met while attending Medical School in Jamaica and were married eight years ago at the St. Georges Anglican Church in St. Kitts.

Holness is also originally from Jamaica and attended the University of West Indies’ Medical Faculty.

He has been involved in teaching at high schools and has worked for the Government at the Ministry of Health where he learnt the ropes in medicine and dealt with some of the more pressing social and medical problems common at the Government Health Centre Clinic level.

He has also worked with family physicians in a private capacity and got a good handle of what it is like from the private side of family medicine.

While in St. Kitts he also worked at the Joseph N. France General Hospital before him and his wife started the Meridian Medical Centre.

He is also one of the Doping Control Officers for St. Kitts and said that it should be important to athletes and that they should not feel offended by it because it is mandatory.

“In order for our people here to participate in International events such as the Olympics they have to allow for testing, both for people who live here as well as Kittitians abroad,” he said.

“Once you enter into the sporting world you have to be tested periodically and it seems to be more of a surprise to Kittitians,especially athletes,  but everyone knows about this, just that the information is not being disseminated enough perhaps.”

Apart from the medical world, on his downtime Holness enjoys watching the television, reading Harry Potter books, surfing online and also loves the sport of Badminton.

He is also the Academic Dean for the International University of the Health Sciences and also lectures the students online.