President Yoweri Museveni has paid tribute to fallen Professor and medic Alexander Odonga describing him as a role model to all people in the health sector, in the church and in society. The President while visiting the family in their Naguru home on Tuesday said Prof. Odonga’s life has inspired millions not only in Uganda but in the wider East, Central and Southern African Region.
Prof. Odonga breathed his last on Wednesday last week at an age of 96 after succumbing to a progressive heart failure at Mulago Hospital. “Government and People of Uganda have lost a senior health professional and citizen who dedicated his entire life to the service of the people of Uganda and Africa through the health sector,”
He also hailed the fallen medic for returned to Uganda to serve after his training in the United Kingdom. Museveni appealed those in the medical profession to emulate Odonga’s work ethic.
“From my conversations with people who have worked closely with Professor Odonga, I have come to learn that he was very highly disciplined and expected all who worked with him to emulate his example. He was smart, clean and tidy. His car was always washed and well maintained.
“We thank God for giving such an individual to our nation. On the international scene, Professor Odonga was a pillar in the East Central and Southern African Region. He was the second African to head the Association of Surgeons of East Africa and was well respected in the whole region. This shows how he was a nationalist and a pan Africanist.”
Museveni speaking to the widow of fallen Prof. Odonga
Prof. Odonga worked at Jinja Hospital and later at Mulago Hospital and Makerere University where he rose to become Professor of Surgery and the Dean of Makerere Medical School.
For many years, he also served as the Chief Government Surgeon. He was an accomplished writer and in 1960, he published a paper in titled “The Good Old Days” in which he highlighted challenges faced by local health professionals.
His other books include; “Practical Medical Ethics”, “Fifty Years of Makerere Medical School” from which several medical students have drawn inspiration and a dictionary for English/Luo.
“He helped me once with a difficult high profile patient and he did our country proud in the professional way in which he successfully handled and managed this patient,” President Museveni recounted.