‘The death of a man diminishes me,’ wrote the poet, ‘for I am involved in a humanity.’ The poet may have been misquoted here. But one thing is certain that the demise of some men diminish us more than that of others, tragic they though all are. Myriad recollections crowd the memory lane as I think of him with a feeling of profound sorrow and sadness. In the rain soaked mid morning of Tuesday, the 19th July 2016, Prof. Dr. Akhtaruzzaman’s quiet departure from this world epitomised the tragedy of the passing away of a truly humane man. We may call it a coincidence, but Dr. Zaman was born on the same date in 1942, in an aristocratic Muslim family in Manikganj. Profile of a knowledgeable physician and gentleman
Prof. Dr. M. Akhtaruzzaman used to guide
us - the doctors - with history taking,
practicing clinical procedures, etc. He was very soft-spoken and cooperative
Dr. Maswoodur Rahman Prince
The death of a man diminishes me, wrote the poet, for I am involved in a humanity. The poet may have been misquoted here. But one thing is certain that the demise of some men diminish us more than that of others, tragic they though all are. Myriad recollections crowd the memory lane as I think of him with a feeling of profound sorrow and sadness. In the rain soaked mid morning of Tuesday, the 19th July 2016, Prof. Dr. Akhtaruzzamans quiet departure from this world epitomised the tragedy of the passing away of a truly humane man. We may call it a coincidence, but Dr. Zaman was born on the same date in 1942, in an aristocratic Muslim family in Manikganj.
To all intents and purposes for us who were slightly junior to him, Prof. Zaman was a soothing symbol of swirling sixties of the last century. Even in his zealous youth he was not disproportionately rattled by the swinging tenor of the time. On the contrary, he represented the tranquil goodness of a knowledge seeker with a scientific outlook which constituted the core of that potent epochthe image of a gentle spoken amiable medical scientist excelling in the field of cardiology, one of the major specialties of medicine. Throughout his life, specially during his student life, he always sought knowledge very devotedly and seriously. His will, blended with his merit, made him attain the first position in the final MBBS examination in 1964.
Dr Zaman served as an assistant surgeon in the Dhaka Medical College Hospital from 1965 to 1970 acquiring much needed practical and clinical knowledge, which paved the way to his ultimate attainment in medicine. Prof. Dr Akhtaruzzaman obtained his MRCP degree in first attempt from the Royal College of Physicians of UK. During the period after the liberation of Bangladesh, there was only a few internal medicine specialists and cardiologists available in the country for about 7 crore people of the country. Dr. Zaman joined the profession as a cardiologist cum medical specialist. We had interaction with Dr. Zaman during our student life when he was an assistant surgeon and performing his duties at the outdoors and indoors (wards). He was very helpful with our studies when we used to do clinical clerkship at the units (wards).
He used to guide us with history taking, practicing clinical procedures, etc. He was very soft spoken and very much cooperative. We graduated in 1970, till that period he was in DMCH as an assistant surgeon. He never failed us, used to help us with our patientsfriends and relatives who sought our help to get proper treatment at the hospital. Prof. Zaman used to help and co-operate with us whenever we approached him.
During later years when he became a noted professor and cardiologist, we used to seek his help. He always gave special preference to see the patients we referred. Not only that, we used to utilize his service in admitting difficult patients in hospitals and he never failed to help us.
During his chequered career, Prof. Zaman taught medicine and cardiology at DMCH, NICVD, Bangladesh Medical College Hospital and Holy Family Red Crescent Medical College and Hospital. He served as principal and professor of cardiology at the Bangladesh Medical College Hospital, Principal and Professor of cardiology at the Holy Family Red Crescent Hospital, Director and Prof. of cardiology at the NICVD.
As an academician, Prof. Zaman was very eager to share and disseminate knowledge. He has about 35 publications in different journals at home and abroad. He was well connected with various socio-cultural and professional organisations and was a life member of Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA), National Heart Foundation and Bangladesh Cardiac Society. He received several awards for his contribution to medical science; worth mentioning among them are Atish Dipankar Award in 2000 and Deshbandhu CR Das Gold Medal in 2004.
I have some personal memories with him. I worked at the Dhaka University Medical Centre and Hospital for sometime. There we requested Dr. Zaman to help us recruit medical officers participating in the interview board as specialist. He never failed us and was always sympathetic to the contenders.
When I was working as Chief Medical Officer of the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation, I always fell upon Prof. Zaman to help us recruit new medical officers for our factories. He was always helpful and eager to consider the young doctors with career building. Sometime I would also bother him for selecting our MOs for promotion to the senior posts. He was always considerate and helpful, helping us choose rightly.
It is said that a physician never retires till he finally retires from living. To give the saying its due honour, Prof Zaman carried on with his profession serving as the Managing Director (MD) of the prestigious healthcare centre Metropolitan Medical Centre (MMC). He continued with the profession until he made his final voyage on 19th July 2016. He departed from this world from the MMC which he led as its MD. Various old-age complications have taken away him from us. However, he will definitely be remembered, fondly and respectfully, for a long time in the memory of many of his admirers, friends and relatives.
The writer, a senior physician and winner of the 28th global media award 1999, is Journal Editor, Stethoscope, The Independent
