Renowned ophthalmologist Dr Syed Abdul Wadud passed away on January 1, 2015 in Atlanta, USA.

His janaza was held at Georgia Islamic Center and he was buried in Atlanta.  He is survived by his wife, two sons, daughters-in-law, five grandchildren, and a host of friends, relatives and well-wishers.

A dua mahfil will be held at his residence (Road 66, House 10, Gulshan-2) on Friday, January 16 at 3:30pm.  Friends, family and well-wishers are kindly requested to attend, says a press release.

Dr Wadud was born on March 1, 1926 in Sherpur, Bangladesh. He was admitted to Calcutta Medical College in 1945.  After partition he transferred to Dhaka Medical College where he completed his MBBS in 1950. In 1959 he was awarded MOMS from University of Vienna and DOMS from Vienna Academy of Medicine. In 1961 he was awarded DO from the University of London.

Dr Wadud joined Dhaka Medical College in 1961, and in 1962 transferred to Mitford Medical College (now known as Sir Salimullah Medical College) as Professor of Ophthalmology. He continued to serve as Professor of Ophthalmology there while concurrently providing technical and logistical support and expertise to help Mr. MM Ispahani establish Islamia Eye Hospital from 1966.

In 1967 he was awarded the National Award Sitara-i-Quaid-i-Azam by the Government of Pakistan in recognition of his contribution to furthering the treatment of diseases of the eye and prevention of blindness in Pakistan.  In March 1971, he formally renounced the award in protest of the Pakistani Government's policies.

At the end of 1971 he opted to join Islamia Eye Hospital on government deputation and became its first Chief Consultant and CEO. This allowed him to offer services to a vast array of population in Dhaka and around the country.  Throughout the 1960s-1970s, Dr Wadud was instrumental in leading eye camps in various parts of the country.  Under his leadership, Islamia Eye Hospital was expanded from a 30-bed hospital to more than 300-bed specialized hospital. 

In collaboration with the International Eye Foundation, Dr Wadud spearheaded the establishment of the first Eye Bank in 1974 at Islamia Eye Hospital. In this regard, he sought and found enthusiastic support from Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to pave the way for laws making it easier to donate & harvest human organs in Bangladesh. With the advent of the necessary legislation, in its first year of establishment, more than 300 corneal transplantations were performed at Islamia Eye Hospital. Bangabandhu was his senior contemporary and friend from their college days together in Islamia College in Calcutta.  Dr Wadud served as eye doctor to the Father of the Nation and most of his family members all throughout. 

In 1976 Dr Wadud was invited as visiting Professor and Fellow at several prestigious US institutions, including Harvard University, John Hopkins University, Wills Eye Hospital, Philadelphia, and University of Florida.  He was instrumental, with the help of the International Eye Foundation, in getting ORBIS, the flying eye hospital, to first visit Bangladesh in 1982.  From 1985 onwards, ORBIS continued to make regular visits to Bangladesh helping treat patients and train doctors on latest technologies and techniques. In 1999, ORBIS established a permanent office in Bangladesh.

Dr Wadud retired from his position as Chief Consultant at Islamia Eye Hospital and Director, Ispahani Institute of Ophthalmology in 1992.  He continued to teach at Bangladesh Medical College as Professor of Ophthalmology until 1997. From 2010 he served as Chief Advisor to Distressed Children and Infants International, a charitable organization based in New Haven, Connecticut, USA.

Throughout his career Dr Wadud was devoted to the cause of treating and preventing blindness in Bangladesh and he was passionate about teaching the art and science of doing so in a humane fashion to new generations of ophthalmologists.