Renowned surgeon, Dr Nazir Ahmad Wani, breathed his last late on Friday evening at Sher-i- Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, where he had served people for many years in different capacities.
His family members said he was shifted to SKIMS on Thursday in a serious condition. He passed away at around 10:55 pm on Friday.
Dr Wani is survived by his wife, daughter and son. Dr Wani was born at Aali Kadal area of Srinagar. In the medical circles, he was known as a teacher of teachers and a master craftsman in surgery for his contribution to the medical field in Kashmir.
Dr Wani was an ex-Dean, chairman of surgeries division, Head of department surgeries department at SKIMS. Post-retirement, Dr Wani developed cancer in his stomach. He went to Saudi Arabia where his son was working and underwent an operation there. For the last two years, he was being managed by the doctors till late last night when he finally gave up.
Prof Wani had done MBBS and his post-graduation from Government Medical College here. He was selected from MCH Urology at PGI Chandigarh, but loved to pursue his dream of gastrointestinal surgery. Later he went to the UK in 1975 for further studies. He passed FRCS Edinburgh in 1978, and continued to work in the UK to gain experience in complex hepatobiliary surgery.
Prof Wani returned to Kashmir in 1983 and joined SKIMS. He is known to have laid the foundation of pancreatic, adrenal, parathyroid and complex GI surgeries in the early 1980s.
Prof. Wani’s contribution in training young surgeons is well acknowledged. He is known to have trained generations of surgeries in Jammu and Kashmir. He has to his credit over 200 research papers which were published in renowned journals.
His colleagues said that he was a surgeon with golden hands and hugely capable. He was a care-taker Director many times in his career and was hugely respected for his integrity as a person and a surgeon. According to his family members, his funeral prayer was held at Hyderpora. He was buried at his ancestral graveyard in Downtown.
Former Director, Prof & Head Gastroenterology, Chairman Dept Medicine at SK Institute of Medical Sciences, Dr. M Khuroo expressed shock at his demise.
“Shocked to know about the death of a dear colleague and a friend. A living tribute to him on this day. Pray to Allah he finds the highest place in Jannat-Ameen. When we did what had never been done in Medicine before! Breaking Barriers in Research! At SKIMS, we were first to show that percutaneous drainage of hydatid cyst in the liver can be done safely and is an effective way to manage such cysts,” he wrote on his social media account.
Meanwhile, Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) held a condolence meeting at Government Medical College (GMC) Srinagar to mourn the demise of Dr Nazir Ahmad Wani.
President DAK, Dr Nisar ul Hassan, said it is a great loss to the medical fraternity and his death has resulted in a great void in the field of medicine
“A medical luminary, Dr Nazir graduated from GMC Srinagar and after completing his masters in Surgery he went to United Kingdom where he passed his FRCS Edinburgh and Joined SKIMS as a faculty member,” he said.
“He headed the department of Surgery for many years and rose to the highest academic position of Dean at SKIMS,”
Dr Nisar said he was pioneer to start hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgeries in Kashmir and it was because of him that surgical services became more specialized and differentiated.
“He produced a generation of surgeons and has many high impact research papers published in the best international Journals,” he said.
“He was instrumental in shaping the surgical services in the valley and his contribution in the field of Surgery will be remembered for all times to come,” he added.
“Born in Ali kadal area of Srinagar, Dr Nazir was a man of impeccable integrity. He was a compassionate and empathetic doctor because of which he was very popular among patients. He will be sorely remembered by everyone whose lives he touched,” said Dr Nisar.
Meanwhile, J&K Surgical State chapter also expressed heartfelt condolences on Prof. Wani’s demise and expressed solidarity with the bereavement with Dr Mehmood Wani and the whole family in this hour of grief.