A pioneer in the fight against Covid-19

At the beginning, there were only the three of us in the Covid-19 testing team, but sir always said we could do the highest number of tests. Despite underlying health condition, he forcefully stayed in the lab from early morning all the way up to 12pm.

Dr Arifa Akram, assistant professor at the National Institute of Laboratory Medicine and Referral Center (NILMRC) was in tears as she recalled her lab's director Prof Abul Khair Mohammad Shamsuzzaman, who passed away from Covid-19 yesterday.

The legendary microbiologist breathed his last around 7am yesterday. He was 59 years of age at the time.

He was undergoing treatment at an intensive care unit (ICU) of Sheikh Russel Gastroliver Institute and Hospital in Dhaka since April 10, hospital director Faruque Ahmed told The Daily Star.

Apart from Covid-19, he had also been suffering from diabetes, high pressure, and obesity. Prof Shamsuzzaman had suffered damages to his lungs due to Covid-19 infection, he added.

Even with a shortage of staff and equipment, Prof Shamsuzzaman set an example by testing the highest number of Covid-19 samples at his NILMRC lab.

According to the health directorate, more than seven lakh Covid-19 samples have been tested in the lab so far.

"We still didn't have any government listed technologists. But instead of waiting for that, Shamsuzzaman sir helped build a 50-member team of volunteer technologists," Dr Arifa Akram told The Daily Star yesterday. "He used to compare our struggle with the 1971 Liberation War to motivate us."

"He knew how to inspire his fellow colleagues — from the peon to every other staff -- and invigorate team spirit," Dr Zakir Hossain Habib, a former colleague of Shamsuzzaman and principal scientific officer of microbiology at the IEDCR told The Daily Star yesterday.

"Such a dedicated and disciplined government officer like him is rare. There is no comparison to how he has helped us during this pandemic. He took his institution to the top from the bottom in very short time, " Prof ABM Khurshid Alam, director general of health directorate told The Daily Star. 

"The medical technologists had staged demonstrations for job regularisation. We could do nothing for them yet. But Dr Shamsuzzaman has managed convince them and build a volunteer team who are working in that institution for almost nothing in return. He made it happen," he said.

He obtained MBBS degree from Rajshahi Medical College in 1986. Before his role in this pandemic, he had contributed to controlling visceral leishmaniasis or "kala-azar" in the country.

A professor of microbiology, Shamsuzzaman earlier served as the director of the disease control wing at Directorate General of Health Services and was the principle scientific officer at the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR).

He was also a writer, poet, and lyricist.Bangladesh Health reporters Forum has expressed condolences on his death.