Bangladesh’s first neurosurgeon Rashiduddin Ahmad dies

Bangladesh’s first neurosurgeon Rashiduddin Ahmad has died at age 79, his family says.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 19 March 2016, 03:43 PM
Updated : 19 March 2016, 05:17 PM

Ahmad’s daughter Rashida Ahmad said he breathed his last around 8pm on Saturday at Metropolitan Hospital at Dhaka’s Mohakhali.
 
She told bdnews24.com that her father had suffered “a massive (hemorrhagic) stroke on Feb 9”.
 
“He did not regain consciousness. He was in coma and last week his condition became unstable,” she said.
 
According to the family, the first Namaaz-e-Janaza (funeral prayers) for him will be held on Sunday at 10am at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), where he had once been an emeritus professor.
 
The body will then be taken to his ancestral home at Belabo in Narshingdi and the second Janaza will be held at Shaheed Ghyasuddin Ahmad Girls school after Zohur prayer.
 
Prof Ahmad is survived by his wife Dr Quamrun Nahar and daughter Rashida Ahmad and son Reza Ahmad.
 
He was the cynosure of patients for decades.
 
Prof Kanak Kanti Barua, Chairman of BSMMU’s neurosurgery department, who saw the teacher at Dhaka Metropolitan Hospital earlier, said his condition was “very critical”.
 
He said a medical board was supervising the treatment of the pioneering professor.
 
Prof Barua said Ahmad had started the neurosurgery practice in 1970.
 
“During the liberation war he secretly treated freedom fighters as he was the only neurosurgeon at the time. Pakistani army men were also taking treatment from him,” he said.
 
“In September (1971), freedom fighters urged him to leave the country as the Pakistani army came to know that he was helping them. He left for Agartala.
 
“After the country's liberation, he came back and started the neurosurgery department at the BSMMU, then known as IPGMR.
 
Inspired by him, the neurosurgery department was established at Dhaka Medical College Hospital. He used to teach there part-time at the beginning,” Prof Barua said.
 
He was the first chairman of the neurosurgery department when the IPGMR turned into a university, BSMMU, in 1998.