Ahmad, Rashiduddin

Ahmad, Rashiduddin (1937-2016) neurosurgeon. He was born on 27 August 1937 in Cox's Bazar, Chittagong to Abdul Gafur and Shamsunnahar, where his father was a magistrate in the then Bengal Civil Service. Ahmad studied in St. Gregory’s High School and Notre Dame College in Dhaka. He was conferred with MBBS degree in 1960 from Dhaka Medical College (DMC). After his surgical residency in Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), he went to Scotland in 1963 at the Department of Surgical Neurology of University of Edinburgh and completed FRCS.

Rashiduddin Ahmad

Ahmad returned to Dhaka in April 1970 to join the Institute of Postgraduate Medicine and Research (IPGMR) as the first Bangladeshi neurosurgeon and promoted as Professor of Neurosurgery at IPGMR in 1979. He was also a consultant neurosurgeon at the Combined Military Hospital, Dhaka with the honorary rank of Colonel. He was the first Chairman of the Neurosurgery department when the IPGMR turned into a public medical university, being the first one in Bangladesh- bangabandhu sheikh mujib medical university (BSMMU) in 1998.

In 1987, he became the founding general secretary of the Bangladesh Society of Neurosciences. Then in 1998, he also became the founding president of the Bangladesh Society of Neurosurgeons and helped establishing the National Institute of Neuroscience at Agargaon, Dhaka in 2012. He had 50 scientific publications to his credit.

He received Independence (Swadhinata Padak) Award in 1999 from the Government of Bangladesh for his service to the nation. He was a sportsperson (Basketball and lawn tennis) and was the recipient of 2007 Bangladesh National Sports Award.

He died on 19 March 2016 in Dhaka and was buried at his village home Belabo in Narsingdi district. [MKI Quayyum Choudhury]