Medical Centre on Point Finger Road in Paget.

Dr. Dale Wilmont said his Bermudian wife Clover (nee Hendrickson) was the motivation that brought him to Bermuda.

"We were in the States for many years but she really wanted to come home,'' he said. "She thought we should explore the possibility of my starting a practice here and when we looked into it, it looked feasible.'' Born in Jamaica before moving, at the age of 13, to the United States where he was schooled, trained and board certified, Dr. Wilmont said he and his wife have spent the past few years in Columbia, South Carolina where he worked with the National Health Service Corps.

Most of his patients in Columbia were indigents and he describes the experience as "challenging'' and "rewarding''.

"But I was at a point in my career where I had to make a decision as to whether I would continue in public service, go into private practise or go into academics,'' he said. "We opted for private practice and have moved here.'' Dr. Wilmont only began to see patients last week and already said he sees the necessity of hiring a medical assistant.

"We just started seeing patients on Monday,'' he said. "I have been getting referrals from Dr. Wong and can see that I am going to need some help very soon, a medical assistant or a nurse.'' Asked if he was aware that there is a shortage of gynaecologists on the Island, Dr. Wilmont said that he was only aware that women faced long waiting periods for an appointment.

He said he hoped his presence would now help to shorten those times.

He said he looked at census figures before deciding to venture here and after seeing them, believed there was room.

"The general guideline is that there should be one gynaecologist for every 10,000 people,'' he said. "So Bermuda should have six. When I came I made number five and I understand Dr. Emma Robinson-Jones has returned, so there are now six of us.'' Still early into his career, Dr. Wilmont said he is very much in favour of the trend in gynaecology to minimal invasive techniques.

Expressing an interest in high risk obstetrics, which includes, menopause, uro-gynaecology and endoscopic procedures, he described the benefits of the new surgical trend.

"Using a laparascope and hysterscope women will get much smaller scars than they would in conventional surgery,'' he said, "and the procedures are associated with quicker recovery times and therefore shorter hospital stays.'' Dr. Wilmont explained that laparoscopes and hysterscopes can be used to assist with hysterectomies and reset fibroids.

"Sometimes there are fibroids in the uterus,'' he said. "You may have the option to remove the entire uterus and a laparoscope could help in bringing it through the vagina where the patient would not have a scar on the abdomen.

"Sometimes it may be possible to just reset the bleeding portion of the fibroid with the hysterscope by going through the uterus and scraping off the fibroids.

"Sometimes that is all that is necessary to solve the problem and therefore not have to undergo a hysterectomy,'' he said.

While he has not used the endoscopic equipment at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital as yet, Dr. Wilmont said he knows it exists and hopes it will serve the needs of his patients.