Psiychiatrist, fighter for the NHS and for a just society for all. (1932 – 2021)
My dad was the greatest man I will ever know. He was my hero. It feels cliched to say it but he really was. He was my political compass and my intellectual lodestar. Born Ali El-Gingihy in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1932, he lived through the second world war and the watershed 1956 Suez crisis.
Like many of his generation, he idolised progressive, independence leaders such as Nasser, Nkrumah, Lumumba and Nehru. He taught me that the world may belong to its rulers, but that it should belong to all of us.
As an NHS psychiatrist, he fought tirelessly for his vulnerable patients against Thatcherite reforms, something they showed appreciation for whenever they saw him in the streets. He taught me to believe in and fight for a more just society, in which people might fulfil their true potential. I followed in his footsteps by becoming a doctor and an advocate for the NHS.
The above is an extract from a moving article in the Guardian by Youssef about his father. The complete article is here.
Doctors in Unite 