JFF mourns death of team doctor

The Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) has expressed regret and has offered condolences to the family of former youth Reggae Boyz team doctor, Martin Garwood, who was found murdered in his Barbican, St Andrew home yesterday.

"This is somebody who worked with both our youth teams (Under 17 and Under 23)," JFF director of operations, PR and events, Mrs Janice Rose-Brown, told The Gleaner yesterday.

"He was professional. This is something we sincerely regret and express condolences to all his loved ones," she added.

Rose-Brown noted that JFF president, Captain Horace Burrell, was travelling overseas at the time and had not yet been notified at the time of writing.

Rose-Brown said the last time Garwood had worked with any of the national teams was sometime in 2015. Records show that he travelled with the young Reggae Girlz to a tournament in Guyana in July 2015.

"We have a cadre of doctors that are rotated upon availability," she explained.

Dr Winston Davidson, who described himself as a colleague of Garwood, told The Gleaner that he found him to be a very community-minded person.

"He was an excellent doctor and a very diligent person and very civic-minded person," he said.

"He had the reputation of being a very competent and sound doctor and caring of his patients," Davidson noted.

Garwood, who was a recipient of a 2004 scholarship from the Jamaica Association of Northern California, was a general practitioner who worked at the Kingston Public Hospital.

"We discussed cases together. As a public health specialist he took interest in communicable diseases and was a very good doctor and very good practitioner. He participated in a lot of continuing medical education and post graduate training and he was interested in family medicine and family," Davidson added.