Probus Wednesday 21 January 2026.
The speaker on Wednesday 21st January was Dr Dominic Pinto OBE, returning to Probus after a gap of 8 Years. In February 2018 Dr Pinto gave a memorable account of his time in Tyrone County Hospital from his appointment as Consultant Surgeon in 1980 until the closure of the hospital in 2017. His talk on this occasion could be described as a “Prequel” in that he spoke about his life from the age of 17 in Goa to his arrival in Omagh.
The 4th of 9 children he grew up speaking Portuguese and arrived in Kenya without a word of English. However, he quickly became fluent and having determined on a career in medicine he won a scholarship to Norwood College in London to study A-level science. His account of his voyage from Mombasa to London on a passenger ship showed that it was an experience that lived long in his memory.
While studying in London he undertook variety of jobs including working with Hungarian refugees in the aftermath of the Hungarian revolution in 1956. In 1957 he gained admission to School of Medicine in London Hospital and threw himself wholeheartedly into University life, excelling at cricket and tennis. His first posting as newly qualified doctor was to Southend Hospital, back in the day a tough part of London infamous for gangland violence.
Through it all Dr Pinto continued to study hard and passed the demanding examinations for admission to the Royal College of Surgeons. This led to a Registrar Post in Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge, from where he moved on to set up a post-graduate course for surgeons in Uganda. He returned to Britain to do pioneer work for the Medical Research Council in transplant surgery and CAT scans – both at an early stage of development. After 8 years in this role he felt drawn back to “hands-on” surgery and in 1980, encouraged by a senior colleague, applied for a job in country he had never visited, in a town he had never heard of. And as they say -the rest is history.
He was warmly thanked for his talk by Club President Aidan Quinn