Emmanuel Amey Ojara

Emmanuel Amey Ojara, MBChB, MMed Surgery, (10 February 1944 - 26 July 1987) was a medical doctor, surgeon and oncologist in East Africa. At the time of his death, he was a Senior Lecturer at the University of Nairobi, School of Medicine.

Background

Ojara was born to Simeon Oyoo and Yudia Akidi Oyoo, on 10 February 1944 at Layibi Village, Gulu District, approximately 6 kilometres (3.7 mi), by road, southwest of the central business district of Gulu,^[1] the largest city in Northern Uganda with a population of 152,276 in 2014.^[2]

Education

After attending primary school locally, he entered Gulu Junior School and in 1960, transferred to Sir Samuel Baker Secondary School.^[3] He completed both his O-Level and A-Level studies at this school, graduating in 1965. In 1966 he was admitted to Makerere University School of Medicine, the oldest medical school in Uganda, founded in 1924.^[4] In 1971, he graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery. Following one year of Internship and another year of practice as a medical officer, he was accepted into the postgraduate Master of Medicine program; a collaborative undertaking between Makerere University and Mulago National Referral Hospital. ^[5] In 1976 he was awarded the degree of Master of Medicine in Surgery.

Career

Following his first degree, he worked as an Intern at Mulago Hospital, from 1971 until 1972. He then worked as a medical officer for the Uganda Ministry of Health, stationed at Butabika Hospital, from 1972 until 1973. Butabika Hospital is located approximately 11 kilometres (7 mi), by road, east of Kampala's central business district.^[6] In 1973, when he entered the MMed program, Makerere University appointed him Assistant Lecturer, a title he carried until his graduation in 1976, when he was promoted to Lecturer. In 1977, at the height of Idi Amin's brutality, Dr. Ojara, with his family, fled to neighboring Kenya.

He was appointed Lecturer at the University of Nairobi School of Medicine, and Registrar at Kenyatta National Hospital, the teaching hospital of the medical school. At the time of his death, he had been promoted to Senior Lecturer at the medical school. His research interests centered around intestinal cancer.

Other considerations

In 1968, while in his third year of medical school, he married Agnes Waithera who was a Bachelor of Education student at Makerere. Together, they were the parents of four children; three sons and one daughter. He was a member of Uganda People's Congress political party. Dr. Emmanuel Ojara died at Nairobi Hospital, a private medical facility in Nairobi, Kenya's capital city, after a series of organ failures ending in cardiac arrest. He was 43 years old.

See also

• Makerere University College of Health Sciences
• University of Nairobi
• List of medical schools in Uganda
• List of hospitals in Uganda

References