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Africa Moyo–Deputy News Editor 

He was born in Cairo in 1957, and was sent to Zimbabwe in 1992 as part of technical aid from the Egyptian government to Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe has enjoyed excellent bilateral relations with Egypt for a long time, after all.

He says he never felt like a stranger since arrival due to the warmth and welcoming nature of Zimbabweans.

Now, he has written a book and about his time in Zimbabwe, and without hesitation, he labelled the country a “smiling nation” because its people are “the best in the world”.

That is the story of Dr Hassan Ashmawy, who has been a consultant urologist at Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo.

Since arrival in Bulawayo in 1992, he has been doing what he came for; conducting major operations, handholding junior doctors. Some of those that have passed through him have become specialists in their own right.

But there is always that time when everyone decides to rest, and possibly take up new challenges, if the energy is still there. And for Dr Ashmawy, that time is now.

“I have been at Mpilo since 1992 up to my retirement this year in March,” he said. “During this period of time, I managed to train quite a number of junior doctors, some of them are now very senior and are holding very high positions. Some of them are highly specialised and consultants. I am very proud of all of them.”

The decision to retire was difficult to make for Dr Ashmawy.

“I came to a stage where I decided to retire. It was a hard decision to leave this country after more than three decades, living here and feeling at home. “Actually, I received very touching messages from colleagues and friends; it really brought tears to my eyes,” said Dr Ashmawy.

Besides doing his routine work of conducting major operations and other things in the field of urology, Dr Ashmawy invented a new technique in urethral surgery called tunica vaginalis urethroplsty.

“This technique has been acknowledged worldwide. I started working on this technique from 2005 and we did two publications, with the first one published in 2009 and the other in 2016. It is a very brilliant technique and it got lots of acknowledgement worldwide.”

Apart from working at Mpilo Central, he did a number of social programmes aimed at benefiting the less privileged.

Dr Ashmawy founded the Islamic Medical Association of Zimbabwein 2007, with the aim of helping the poor and average people through medical assistance. With his team, he opened Alshifa clinics stationed in Bulawayo, Kwekwe and Harare. The latest clinic was constructed in Hatcliffe Extension in Harare. 

“These clinics helped the less privileged to get medical services at very low cost. Also through this organisation, we managed to do quite a number of outreaches; we covered almost the whole country,” he said.

Some of the areas covered include Bulawayo and surrounding areas, Kwekwe, Kadoma, Chinhoyi and Binga. They offered free medical examination and free medication. 

A number of eye camps were done in Harare and Bulawayo, and during some of them, over 750 free cataract operations were done. They also did circumcision camps in Bulawayo, Harare, Kwekwe, Chinhoyi, and others.

But as he leaves his work at Mpilo Central, and eventually Zimbabwe for his homeland, IMAZ is not leaving with him. 

It had been running as a professional outfit, and not a sole trader type of business that dies with the owner.

Said Dr Ashmawy: “I run it as an institution not relying on a person. For the past 10 years, my local colleagues have been running it and they will take over the activities of the organisation. It is still doing very well since it was established in the past 16 years or so.”

Apart from the activities undertaken under IMAZ, Dr Ashmawy and a couple of his colleagues initiated the idea of free phone consultations if anyone fell sick during the Covid-19 lockdown.

“We gave them access to this service and it was really well received by the community and helped a lot people,” he said.

Away from being a medicine and philanthropy, Dr Ashmawy is author with five books books under his belt already. He wrote four of them in Arabic “because I can express myself well in Arabic”.

A book he wrote about Prophet Muhammad has already been translated to English and is being distributed in Zimbabwe and neighbouring countries. 

His last book was about his experiences in Zimbabwe and it’s also in Arabic, but work has begun to translate it into English. 

“What I have mentioned on my experiences in Zimbabwe is that, without exaggeration, Zimbabweans are the best people in the world. Yes, you can face some difficulties here and there like anybody in the world, but Zimbabwean people are very kind, very humble and I even called it a smiling nation because you are always smiling despite the challenges. 

“So, Zimbabwe is actually one of the best nations you can find in the world. Now I am going back to Egypt and most likely I will be involved in teaching, charity work and writing books again. 

“I want to say ‘thank you to every person in Zimbabwe for the hospitality, although I can’t even say hospitality because I never felt like a stranger, like a foreigner. I was really feeing at home with my family and friends, so I want to say ‘thank you to my colleagues’. With a broken heart, I want to say goodbye Zimbabwe,” said Dr Ashmawy.