Shamitha Pulikanti follows family into medicine

Nineteen-year-old Shamitha Pulikanti has always been determined to maintain the medical tradition established over the past two generations in her family. The teen is now preparing to enter the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery programme at the University of the West Indies.

Shamitha told WESTERN STAR that her medical pursuit has been influenced by her older sister, Thejasree, her parents and grandparents, all of whom entered the field of medicine.

"Becoming a doctor was always what I wanted to be. It must have been entrenched by my parents being doctors and my sister becoming one, but it was what I wanted to do, too," said Shamitha, who graduated from the Montego Bay Community College's (MBBC) pre-university science programme on July 1. "I'm also following in my grandparents' footsteps, my mom's parents, as they are doctors, too."

"To be honest, I didn't really want to be anything else. I just always wanted to be a doctor because they've all been doctors, and I didn't see myself as anything else," she continued.

Like her sister, who also attended the MBCC, Shamitha achieved 11 grade one passes in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations and has set her sights on greater scholastic achievements.