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Guyanese doctor, former world boxing champ get UWI awards
On the surface the surgeon and the pugilist have very little in common.
Dr. Budhendra Doobay is a vascular surgeon who works with the Niagara Health System. He has spent his career repairing injured bodies.
Dr. Budhendra Doobay and his daughter, Dr. Jaya Doobay.
Lennox Lewis, the former heavyweight champion of the world, made a career out of injuring bodies.
But both men were to be recognized last evening in Toronto for their achievements as professionals and men of Caribbean descent. The University of the West Indies awarded the doctor and boxer its annual Luminary Award.
Elizabeth Buchanan-Hind, director of advancement with the university, said although the Caribbean is a collection of small countries, people from the region and those descended from it have had a noticeable impact on the world.
“There are as many people of Caribbean descent living elsewhere in the world as there are living in the Caribbean,” she said. “We started this award a few years ago in New York City to honor (Caribbean-Americans) and then decided to do the same in Canada. Next year we will be doing the same in England as well.”
Lewis, whose family hails from Jamaica, grew up in Toronto and boxed for Canada in the 1988 Olympic Games, winning gold. A dual British and Canadian citizen, he moved to the United Kingdom when he turned professional and became the last man to be considered the undisputed world heavyweight champion.
Although his pro career was based in England, Lewis said he never lost touch with the Caribbean.
“That connection has always been there, all my life,” Lewis said in a telephone interview from Jamaica. “This has always been a home for me. I love it here, always felt connected to Jamaica. It’s easy going attitude, not getting upset, taking life as it comes. That really was part of my attitude as a fighter.”
Since retiring from the ring, Lewis said he has dedicated his time to the Lennox Lewis League of Champions Foundation, which helps underprivileged children in Canada, Jamaica and the UK.
Doobay, whose father is from Guyana, is well known for his work in the Ontario Hindu community — including promoting organ donation in a religious community that often rejects the practice.
Like Lewis, he never lost a connection to his family’s origin and returns to Guyana regularly along with sending medication to the country.
Former world boxing champ, Lennox Lewis
“Every year I am part of a group from the University of McMaster who go to Guyana to work in a dialysis clinic,” he said.
Doobay said people in Guyana live on a fraction of what Canadians earn in a year and in the absence of universal health care, paying for a treatment like dialysis is often beyond their means.
“So we are offering low cost dialysis,” Doobay said. “For those who cannot pay at all, we provide dialysis for free. For those who can, it’s a nominal fee of $40, even less.”
Although Doobay oversaw the creation of the dialysis clinic, he credits the McMaster team who keep it running.
Doobay and Lewis were to receive their awards last night at the Ritz Carlton in Toronto. (niagaraadvance.ca)
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