Dr. David Abdulai
The popular Tamale doctor, Dr. David Abdulai who was afflicted with stage-4 thyroid cancer has passed away on Sunday at the 37 Military Hospital aged 66. The ailment which eventually killed him was diagnosed in May which spread quickly having a worrying toll on him.
News about his death was made yesterday by the Archbishop of Tamale and the family. The announcement had it that he died Sunday night.
Most of the townsfolk call him Dr. Abdulai Choggu, the latter name being reference to the suburb of Tamale he hails from.
His gratis medical practice at the Shekinah Clinic and another which he founded alongside the provision of meals to lunatics in the Tamale metropolis made him popular earning him the moniker ‘mad doctor.’
At the height of his ailment, President John Mahama ordered the Ghana Air Force to fly him to Accra on 9th August, 2016 so he could access further treatment at the 37 Military Hospital, where he finally died.
Old Tamale Senior High School students, previously Government Secondary School, his alma mater from form I to sixth form, quickly raised funds to assist their mate as a mark of solidarity when the headlines about his state made the newsstands.
One of his school mates remembered him thus: His humility was already manifested right from his secondary school days at Tamasco. ‘Some of us were beneficiaries of his humility and desire to offer selfless services. I was in 6th form when Choggo was in form 3. He would frequently come to me to find out if there was something to be washed or ironed.’
He completed the Ghana Medical School in 1979 and was mates of Drs. Agyeman Badu Akosa and Tinorgah.
He came from a poor background and an interesting story about him was that he became House Prefect of the Pattinson House at Tamasco at a time when the school policy was passed for six formers to start wearing trousers. But because he could not afford trousers, the policy was suspended until he got himself a pair of trousers through the benevolence of friends among them Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni.
The deceased, an exceptionally brilliant student was adopted by the Catholic Church in Tamale, a reason he became a Christian, but for whom he might not have been educated.
At his Shekinah Clinic, one of two operations in Tamale, he offers free medical treatment and shelter to the destitute and the homeless depending on donations and NGOs for the day-to-day running of the facilities. He organizes baths for the mentally ill and supports HIV patients something which amazes many in the metropolis.
His treatment at the military hospital was not totally gratis as some of his bills were footed through the funds raised by his friends and other sources. Hardly is a town thrown into a near total state of mourning like what happened at Tamale when news of his death broke.
By A.R. Gomda