…says Guyana’s first plastic surgeon, Dr Joseph Torres
In 1998, Joseph Torres emerged as the St Ignatius Secondary’s top student at that year’s Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) Examinations. Today he is Guyana’s first Cuban-trained plastic surgeon, a feat that complements his hunger for academic achievement as well as his aim to inspire others from remote communities to strive for greatness through education.
Dr Joseph Torres
Dr Torres recently completed studies in Cuba, where he read for a double-major or, as he called it, specialised studies in General Plastic Surgery and Burn Care, a leg of studies which commenced in China. He is said to be Guyana’s first plastic, reconstructive and aesthetic surgeon, and while the qualifications on Dr Torres’s curriculum vitae may be lengthy, he is as humble a person as one would imagine.
During an interview with this publication, done on Thursday from his apartment in Cuba, where he is preparing to travel back to Guyana, Dr Torres noted that these medical studies commenced back in 1998, when he attended the University of Guyana and read for an Associate Degree in Medical Technology. He majored in medical microbiology. After completing that programme in 2002 and completing a brief stint in the pharmacy of the Woodlands Hospital, Dr Torres was granted a scholarship by the Government of Guyana to study medicine in Cuba.
Dr Torres said his wife Afiya and his children have been his biggest supporters
He spent the next seven years in that Spanish-speaking island, and in 2010 he returned, after successfully completing the programme. It was also a historic return, since he became the first medical doctor who hails from the Rupununi.
Dr Torres, who was born and raised in the village of Wowetta in the North Rupununi, subsequently served in the medical field for another four years before preparing to pursue further studies overseas. He said the specialised area of his medical studies commenced in 2016 in China.
“I was awarded a scholarship, through an arrangement by the Government of Guyana with the People’s Republic of China, to study general surgery, and I spent two years there,” he said of the initial phase of the programme. He then transitioned to Cuba, and continued in the field of plastic surgery for another four years, beginning in 2018. He says he is now obligated to provide his services to the citizenry through the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), where he is a staff member.
Dr Joseph Torres as he performed an operation on a patient
Dr Torres said the field of plastic surgery is still in its infancy stages in Guyana, noting that persons are still not very conscious of the field, including reconstructive surgery. He said when persons think of plastic surgery, they would only consider implants or a tummy tuck, but according to him, there are many other areas of plastic surgery that many may not be aware of, and they include reconstruction of the scalp, the chest, and genitalia, among other areas of the human body.
Why he made that choice
According to Dr Torres, while completing medical studies in Cuba, during his first stint before 2010, thoughts of being a plastic surgeon had roamed his mind. According to him, he gravitated to that field after encountering several children with cleft lips in the Rupununi following his return. A cleft lip is an opening or split in the upper lip, which occurs when developing facial structures in an unborn baby do not close completely.
He said while he worked in the Rupununi as a medical doctor, he was on outreach and he observed a number of children with cleft lip, which is deemed a congenital malformation. He said medical officials are sometimes unaware of such children.
“They were hidden in the villages,” he said. In addition, he noted that in many communities, there are children with other rare body features, such as those with extra toes or fingers, a condition known as polydactyly. “Every Indigenous community I would think would have a child with this type of congenital malformation,” he said.
He said he knew general surgery could not correct the features of such children, but he also knew there had to be a way to remedy the situation. His research then led to plastic surgery and the specialization that the field entails. “It touched me that I could not help them at that time,” he said.
Dr Torres has said that to commence his interest in the field, he began registering children with such conditions in the North Rupununi, and in 2016, prior to leaving for China, he tried unsuccessfully to have the children receive the requisite treatment at the Lethem Hospital. However, the children underwent surgery at the GPHC, and he singled out the assistance provided by the late aviator Malcom Chan-A-Sue who flew the children to the city to undergo the surgeries.
Harlequin Disease
Dr Torres noted that during his research, he also discovered that there are children who suffer from Harlequin disease, a condition which is also known as Harlequin ichthyosis. It is a severe genetic disorder that affects the skin, mostly in infants. Infants with this condition are born prematurely with very hard, thick skin covering most of their bodies.
He said he found two children in the North Rupununi who suffered from the condition, and according to him, he is hoping to provide the requisite surgery to such children on his return. He explained that the condition includes a deformity of the eyelids and dry eyes, but with the surgery, he said, he can protect them.
“So these are some of the things that motivated me. There are some children that don’t have an option, and plastic surgery is definitely an option,” he added.
Humble beginnings
As he spoke about his passion for academia, Dr Torres said he attended the Wowetta Primary School, and subsequently the St Ignatius Secondary, near Lethem. The 6th of 7 siblings, Dr Torres grew up with his mother and a step-father, and those childhood days taught him many valuable lifelong lessons.
After his studies at secondary school, he then commenced a 23-year journey of medical studies, and according to the doctor, while he focuses on his studies, his immediate and extended families would provide much-needed support. To this end, he singled out his mother, Mary Torres.
He said he married his wife Afiya Quamina Torres in 2012, and according to the doctor, she has always been by his side. “She is my biggest supporter,” he said of his wife. He said she has been beside him in China as well as in Cuba. With a smile, he noted that as a couple, they have two children; one was born in China and the other was born in Cuba.
“They were always supportive. We had difficult times, but that is part of life,” he said. He also noted that his mother-in-law, Jennifer Boston, is always there to support the family.
His expectations
Dr Torres said that plastic surgery is a “refined” medical field, and he added that the requirements are very high. He explained that in any country where there is plastic surgery, there is a regulatory system. He added that in some countries such as neighbouring Brazil and Colombia, one has to be part of a special society of plastic surgeons in order to receive the green light by the medical authorities to practice in the field. He said he has some colleagues from Colombia who were not medically trained to provide plastic surgery in their home country, but were nevertheless practising in the field back home. However, the Government of Colombia recognised the deficiency and sent them to Cuba to be qualified in the field.
As for Guyana, he said there may be a need for the establishment of a regulatory system to provide oversight of this field of medicine. “Those systems protect the patients, since the overall objective is to protect the patient,” he noted, adding that many persons can benefit from plastic surgery.
Dr Torres speaks several languages, and they include English, Spanish, Mandarin and the Indigenous Wapishana language, which is spoken at his home at Wowetta.
Throughout the interview, Dr Torres reiterated the importance of education. “My academic journey has been long, but I believe in education,” he added.
He noted that his aim is not only to educate others and treat his patients to the best of his abilities, but to also be a role model to others. He singled out his Indigenous roots, of which he is proud. He noted that there is a need for persons to motivate hinterland students so that they can rise to the peak of any field of study.
“For us to truly come out of poverty, we need to embrace education,” he explained.
