Kalawattie Datt-Singh, BSc. Pharmacy, MBA
President, Caribbean Association of Pharmacists (2021)
Hello my Caribbean Association of Pharmacists family!
It is my great delight and honor to acknowledge the trust and faith that you have bestowed onto me to serve as the 9th President of the Caribbean Association of Pharmacists (CAP) for the period 2021-2023.
CAP is an organization with a proud past and an exciting future and with all the opportunities and challenges that come with my acceptance to serve, I am certain this journey will not be a smooth one if I am to walk alone. However, with team work, collaboration, networking, and synergy we will progress and make certain that our vision and goals are achieved.
Let me take this opportunity to acknowledge the achievements of our Immediate Past President Dr. Marvin Smith. We have benefited immensely from you during your terms as President. Your leadership was steady, assured, and pragmatic and you had a clear vision for change and strategies to suit the time. I would also like to acknowledge two other Past Presidents, Mr. Bassil Scantlebury and Mrs. Yvonne Reid, for their work and initiatives in molding CAP for the younger generation to take over. I am here because of these 3 exceptional and inspirational individuals who saw my ability and envisioned me as a future CAP president before I even had the thought. They are my mentors, advisors, and guidance counsellors. Together with my new executive we will continue to do the great work that they began and to do more.
To our members I would like to say, we cannot make this journey alone as leaders, we need your support, constructive criticism, and encouragement, to grow our Association. Let us never settle for mediocrity nor stop striving to grow professionally. Let us continue to press forward, always collaborating and networking, always asking and seeking answers to make our Association a better one.
And so, over the next two years and onward, we will continue to build on our strengths and implement new ideas that the new executive AND the general membership have, to further strengthen CAP. We will continue to strengthen our professionalism through education and training with the available resources. We will maintain our commitment to solidarity, in ensuring that our members who have less resources are provided with opportunities and rendered assistance to develop their skills and their required frameworks. We can also look towards and beyond our own community by reaching out to each other communities to build that network of contemporary thinking about governance and administration to ensure laws, policies and decisions take proper account of the value and benefits of proper health care systems. And finally, expand our forums to develop assistants/technicians and our members who practice specialty pharmacy. As our profession and healthcare landscape continue to evolve, I am confident CAP will never settle in its drive to ensure that our members are equipped to advance our practice and improve patient outcomes.
Of course, there will be challenges and we will face these difficulties together. Indeed, the unprecedented advent of Covid has inflicted upon us its own challenges but yet, here we are – we have found innovative ways to survive. We are as strong as ever and we can achieve our goals, while we walk amidst the raindrops in staying safe from Covid as we move forward.
Let’s not forget that we are a global Association – united by our values and rich with talent. If each of us excel in our respective areas, we will find that the collective returns will be much greater than we can ever hope for.
The sky is the limit! Long live the Caribbean Association of Pharmacists!