National Professor Abdul Malik passes away
He was the founder director and professor of the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases
National Professor Brigadier (retd) Abdul Malik, founder and president of the National Heart Foundation of Bangladesh, passed away today at the age of 94.
Prof Malik breathed his last at the National Heart Foundation Hospital around 9:40am, where he was undergoing treatment for age-related ailments, confirmed Prof Sohel Reza Choudhury, head of the Epidemiology and Research Institute Department at National Heart Foundation Hospital.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed deep shock and sorrow at the passing of Prof Malik. "He was a pioneer of cardiovascular disease treatment in Bangladesh," she said in a condolence message, praising him as a "successful doctor, renowned teacher, and social worker."
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She further lauded his philanthropic efforts and highlighted his lasting impact on the field of cardiology. "His contributions will be remembered forever," she said.
Prof Malik was born on 1 December 1929 in a respectable Muslim family in Paschim Bhag village of South Surma, Sylhet.
He passed MBBS in 1954 from Dhaka Medical College as a regular student. He then joined the Pakistan Army Medical Corps in June 1955. For higher education, he was sent to the UK in 1963 by the government. After passing MRCP in 1964 he received higher training in Cardiology at Hammersmith Hospital, Post Graduate Medical School London and other hospitals in the UK from March 1964 to February 1966.
After returning from the UK in March 1966, he set up a Cardiac unit in Military Hospital Rawalpindi, Pakistan (now Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology-AFIC), and trained the nurses and other relevant staff to successfully run this unit. In March 1970 this center performed the first successful open-heart surgery operation in Pakistan. He joined the Institute of Post Graduate Medicine and Research, Dhaka (now Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University) in June 1970 and established a cardiac unit and worked as a Professor of Cardiology till June 1978.
National Professor Malik was the founder director and professor of the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Dhaka. He worked there from July 1978 to November 1989. In this institute, the first open heart surgery in Bangladesh was done on 18 September 1981. He also established the National Center for Control of Rheumatic Fever and Heart Diseases and worked as a Project Director from 1987 to 1989.
Prof Malik is the founder and president of the National Heart Foundation of Bangladesh, which was formed at his initiative with some medical and non-medical social workers in 1978.
