The Mid Atlantic Wellness Institute (MAWI) has a new Chief of Psychiatry. Ten years ago Dr. Cuda Sarathchandra spent one month as a locum at the Devonshire hospital. He said he found it interesting and had looked to return a few years later, but there were no vacancies at the time.

Then recently he opted for early retirement from his consultancy post in England and was presented again with the opportunity to work in Bermuda. He's been at the helm at MAWI for one month and said he is much busier now in retirement than he was in England.

He outlined a typical work-week for him in Bermuda.

"Proportionately, I see more patients here than I did in the UK," he said. "I do think that it is nice that patients here have direct access to a specialist. I conduct two outpatient clinics a week. Each usually has six patients — one new and five follow-ups.

"I see about one patient a week for psychiatric analysis for termination of pregnancy. I have eight acute patients whom I meet with once a week and also schedule time to meet separately with their individual families.

"I carry out training and education of residents and other staff and, as Chief Psychiatrist, attend medical staff committee meetings of the Bermuda Hospitals Board. I'm also on call during all public holidays."

The 57-year-old has practised psychiatry for 26 years and has worked as a consultant for the past 11. Although he is now passionate about his work, he admitted that when he first went to medical school in his native Sri Lanka, a career in psychiatry was not on his mind.

"I thought I would be a GP (general practitioner) or internist," he said. "I did work for two years as a GP in Sri Lanka before I went to the UK."

In England, Dr. Sarathchandra said he discovered it was easy to get a post as a psychiatrist. "It was new to me and I discovered I enjoyed it. To be a psychiatrist in addition to your medical skills, you need to have a lot of empathy, wider understanding, good judgement and a balanced mind," he said. "I felt these were all qualities that I had so I tested it for about a year and I liked it."

Also attractive to Dr. Sarathchandra, was the opportunity for career development and advancement. "At that time there were more opportunities for training," he said.

In 1986, he moved to Canada serving as a consultant psychiatrist at Yarmouth Regional Hospital in Nova Scotia. Two years later he returned to England taking up a consultancy post at Clacton District Hospital in Essex.

He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and has served as Associate Director of North Essex Medical Health Trust and was Regional Advisor for the National Health System Trusts of the six counties of East England.

He is married with a 27-year-old son and enjoys snorkelling, scuba diving and tennis. He also plans to try golf.