A Maltese doctor has been granted two of the highest accolades by his peers in the UK and Australia.
Professor Stephen Gatt, a Royal University of Malta MD graduate, has been honoured for his work in the field of anaesthesia.
The Royal College of Anaesthetists of the United Kingdom has conferred an Honorary Fellowship of the RCA, FRCA Honoris Causa, for extensive contributions to the field of anaesthesia internationally.
The award was made for extensive contributions to anaesthesia and especially to obstetric anaesthesia.
Late last year, the Society of Obstetric Medicine of Australia and New Zealand also bestowed on Professor Stephen Gatt its highest honour – Honorary Life Membership – at its 2018 National Scientific Congress in Cairns in tropical Far North Queensland. The honour has been granted only five times in the society’s 30 years history and never to an intensive care and anaesthesia specialist.
Professor Gatt emigrated from Malta 43 years ago to Australia, where he lives with his wife, Alice, from Msida and their four children.
He planned, established, staffed and directed, for more than a decade, the first obstetric intensive care unit in Australia.
As President of the Obstetric Anaesthesia Society of Asia and Oceania for over 25 years and, as of last year, Emeritus Life President of OASAO, Prof. Gatt is a recognisable obstetric anaesthetist across Asia and the Pacific.
The Honorary Life Membership was also granted for his vast authorship contributions to Obstetric Medicine which include more than 280 publications. His books have been variously translated into Japanese, Bahasa Indonesia / Malaysia and Vietnamese.