Fw: (LML) In memoriam of Father George Abram

Leprosy Mailing List – March 25 ,  2021

 

Ref.:  (LML) In memoriam of Father George Abram

 

From:  Ben Naafs, Munnekeburen, the Netherlands

 

Dear colleagues,

Many leprologists spend their life in care of leprosy patients and other neglected people, do so in silence and pass away. One of those was my friend George Abram, best known as Father George.

George was born on the 4th of February 1944 at Ronzone-Trento in Italy.

On the 24th of September, 1955, he entered the minor seminary of the friars of Saint Franciscus at Camposampiero in Italy. He became ordained priest on the 21st of March, 1970.

He had a Doctorate in Canon Law and was a polyglot. He held many administrative positions in the Provincial Custody of Ghana. He was the first Guardian of the St. Anthony of Padua Friary at Elmina and the current Director of the Franciscan Publications at Takoradi. Until his death, he was a familia member of the St. Francis of Assisi Friary, Takoradi.

Father George arrived in Ghana in August, 1977. In 1979, he began the Anti-Leprosy work at Takoradi and extended it to Ankaful Leprosarium. In 1982, he founded AIFO/IALO, an international programme that seeks to get rid of Leprosy and other skin-related diseases. In a period of ten (10) years, the total number of leprosy patients which was over 50,000, dropped significantly to 1,500. Mostly due to the implication of MDT. During the outbreak of Buruli ulcer in Ghana he started fighting it early when about 1,110 patients were detected in a community of 250,000. He built a hospital in Amasaman with an operating room.

Always traveling around the country, he visited the various leprosy centers and offices to motivate the other workers and to help when needed. One can freely say he knew Ghana. Three (3) hospitals which were operating at Kokofu, Ho and Ankaful were refurbished and turned into General Hospitals with specialization in leprosy and dermatology.

Father George Abram, in collaboration with others transformed the Nsawam Orthopedic Centre into a centre for rehabilitation for the Leprosy patients.

One of his concerns was the training of doctors and paramedics who would take care of the vulnerable suffering from Leprosy or Buruli ulcer. And here I came in and we became friends talking at night under the sky, in Tukuls, and so many other places.

Father George Abram was tasked to begin a project for leprosy in Vietnam in January 2010.

A recent event became a big blow to George. His last brother died and he attended the funeral in Italy. He went back to Ghana, his place of life . He decided to quarantine himself in-line with the best practices of the COVID-19 protocols or safety measures. During this period of his self-quarantine, he realised that he was not feeling well so he went for the COVID-19 test and the result was positive. He was then rushed to the Nyaho Clinic at the airport residential area and was later transferred to the Ghana Maritime Hospital in Tema. He was doing well, and the hope was that he would soon be better. However, on Friday, March 5, 2021, while still going through the COVID-19 treatment at the Intensive Care Unit, he suffered a cardiac arrest.

Ghana will miss a concerned citizen, the leprosy world a quiet worker and my wife and I will miss a dear friend.

 

Ben Naafs

LML - S Deepak, B Naafs, S Noto and P Schreuder

LML blog link: http://leprosymailinglist.blogspot.it/

Contact: Dr Pieter Schreuder << editorlml@gmail.com

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