عبد الرحيم محمد أحمد (رائد جراحة العظام في وزارة الصحة)
Early years
Dr Abdel
Rahim Mohamed Ahmed was born in El Ghaba El Shimaliya, Ugri El Dabba on 3 October
1932(3). He spent the first four years of his life in Al Ghaba Khalwa
under Hagg Baloul. His entry into formal government education was a mere
coincidence as there were only two primary government schools in that area-one
in Wadi Halfa and the other in Berber, and these were only known to the elite. He spent his elementary schooling in
Dibaira, north of Halfa, before joining Halfa Intermediate School. Later, he
joined Wadi Saidna Secondary school followed by Kitchener School of Medicine
(KSM). Schooling was supported by a college scholarship of 10 Sudanese Pounds a
year to be given in three-month instalments. In current money, this seems to be
too little an amount; but it carried out a lot of pride as it was a compliment
to all science students and was a good relief to a poor student. He graduated
with DKSM in 1958 together with 19 others including Gaili Karrar the first
surgeon to be appointed in the Sudan Medical Corps and first Orthopaedic
Surgeon there.
Career
After acquiring the Diploma of Kitchener School of Medicine (DKSM) in 1958 with a prize in Medicine, Dr Abdel Rahim joined the Ministry of Health (Sudan
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| Abdel Rahim Mohamed Ahmed |
In the UK, having passed his second
part of FRCS (England) in about six months, he started to look for a job in his
field of interest. He had several offers; but his life gift came in a cable
from Professor Trueta asking him for an interview for a job in the Nuffield in Christmas
1960!
He was Surgical Registrar (November
1960-March 1962), and Senior House Officer in Hammersmith Hospital, London
(April 1962-March 1963). In 1962, he was awarded the Fellowship of the Royal
College of Surgeons of England (FRCS). He did Training in Accident and
Orthopaedics in Oxford (1964-1966), a Smith and Nephew Fellowship in Plastic
and Trauma Neurosurgery in Oxford for one year in 1966, and a six-week WHO
Fellowship (Prosthetic-Orthotics) in Denmark in 1973.
In Sudan, he was assigned surgeon in
Kassala, Sudan (May 1963-March 1964). He was Accident and Orthopaedic
Registrar, Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre (1966), and Consultant Orthopaedic
Surgeon, Khartoum (1967-1972). He was Senior Consultant to the Ministry of
Health, and Head of the Accident and Orthopaedic Department, Khartoum Teaching
Hospital (1973-1990).
Following voluntary retirement in 1990,
he was Fellow-Accident and Orthopaedic Department, medical school. He continued
in private practice in accident and orthopaedic surgery, part-time postgraduate
tutor in orthopaedics, examiner in anatomy for the Second MB BS, and surgery
for the final MB BS in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Khartoum. He was
examiner in anatomy for Part 1 Surgery and Part 2 MD (Surgery), University of
Khartoum, and for the Degrees of MB BS and Master in Clinical Surgery (MCS). He
also did WHO short-term consultancies in Accident Prevention and Emergency
Medical Services in the Middle Eastern Region.
The immediate posts he carried out
before his retirement included Senior Orthopaedic Surgeon to the MOH, Head,
Accident and Orthopaedic Department, KTH, Part-time under- and post-graduate
teacher, Faculty of Medicine, UOK.
The immediate post commitments were
many including:
· In charge of the National Prosthetics-Orthotic Centre,
Khartoum
· Director, Joint Ministry of Health-World Health
Organisation Rehabilitation Programme
· Member of the National Council for the Welfare and
Rehabilitation of the Disabled.
· Chairman of the Committee for the National Council for
Accident Prevention.
· Chairman of the First National Conference on Road Traffic
Accident prevention.
· Director, Joint Ministry of Health-World Health
Organisation Programme for Accident Prevention.
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