- Until his death, he was a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons where he studied. He proudly wore a badge and a tie that signified as much.
- Being a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons is a professional qualification required to practise as a surgeon in the UK and the Republic of Ireland.
Image: HANDOUT
When Dr Joab Bodo spoke to the Star in late 2021, he expressed his desire to retire from active medical practice — having plunged into the profession in early 1960s, but his patients could not let him be.
He has now been retired by his maker where eternal rests await him.
He will no longer worry about the midnight theatre calls, the pungent smell from wounds of patients he often dressed, the never-going away smell of medicines, and his unforgiving study routine and conferences he attended to keep up with the dynamics of the medical profession.
In 1963, Dr Bodo started out as an intern at Kenyatta National Hospital, then King George VI hospital.
The pioneer independence-era and accomplished surgeon from Karombo village in Nyahera, Kisumu county, died on May 24 aged 88.
In his close to 60 years of practice, he attended to who is who in the society, even serving as one of the pathologist during the postmortem exercise on the body of Foreign minister Dr Robert Ouko in 1990.
He took part in the autopsy at Lee Funeral Home as the chief orthopaedic specialist alongside the Ouko’s family doctor, Dr Joseph Oluoch, among others.
In 2021 when the soft-spoken orthopaedic surgeon gave the interview, he was 86 years old, but still sharp in memory, walking in straight gait, clear in speech and clearly proud of his track record and profession.
The father of five had said it was hard to say goodbye to the profession he loved and rest at home.
Part of the reason was the inability of his patients to let him go rest. At the senior age, he still received those midnight calls doctors are accustomed to.
Just around the time of the interview, he had lost his brother and he stayed upcountry in Nyahera for a round a week. He could not have a peaceful night rest.
“My house literally became a hospital. I would hate to take medicine to my rural home. I have done enough. Your sleeping time will be affected, when called to go see a patient you must go. Even if it’s 2am, if you say 'take the patient to the theatre', you must go,” he said.
But over time, the doctor had slowed down gradually, scaling down much of the rigour.
“If you’re still mentally okay you can slow down, which I have done,” he said.
Part of this slowing down, he said, was retiring from the Aga Khan University Hospital Medical College in mid-2021 after 17 years of being a section head at the facility.
Reminiscing over his run, Dr Bodo said that practising medicine in the country had gone through transformation, but challenges have remained.
Some of the challenges include the work ethics of doctors. Unlike them who were modestly remunerated but were satisfied with it, he said some medics now overcharge and engage in illicit means to defraud patients, something that saddened him.
“My salary was about Sh1,200 but it was enough. I bought a brand new VW from DT Dobie in 1964. It impressed my wife to be and we got married in 1966,” he said.
“Those days if you were a doctor you did your work and that was all. The money was enough. I was able to educate my children, two in India and three in US comfortably.
“You worked and in the evening played tennis. If you were needed in the theatre you were available to go and work.
“Now when you go to rural areas, specialists are not available. They may be posted there but they are not in public hospitals and will force you to see them in their private clinics. For us it was different.”
And what kept him sharp and what would be his parting shot to young medics? Studying and attending conferences.
“When you practice medicine, learning continues. You have to continue learning, attending conferences. Even at [this age], I must attend conferences,” he said.
His office is lined with a long shelf of medical books and scholarly articles he consulted to hone his skills.
Until his death, he was a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons where he studied. He proudly wore a badge and a tie that signified as much.
Being a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons is a professional qualification required to practise as a surgeon in the UK and the Republic of Ireland.