Coronavirus: Senior British-Egyptian Doctor Dies After Two-Week Battle With Disease

A prominent British-Egyptian doctor is the latest Muslim medical worker to died from coronavirus in the UK, his relatives have told Middle East Eye.

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Professor Mohamed Sami Shousha, 79, died in London on Thursday after contracting the virus around two weeks ago, his nephew Abdelrahman Shousha said.

"He was very keen on going to work on his final days despite the health hazards," Shousha told MEE. "However, most likely, his work did not involve direct contact with Covid-19 patients."

"He had been hospitalised since 23 March, after contracting the virus, before he succumbed to the illness on Thursday. He leaves behind two daughters and his wife. We will all miss him dearly."

His family have asked that their privacy be respected at this time.

Trained in histopathology at the Royal Free Hospital and London's School of Medicine, Shousha had been working at Charing Cross Hospital since 1978, where he managed the breast histopathology service. Histopathology is the study of changes in tissues caused by disease.

He was also an honorary professor of histopathology at Imperial College and worked at UK cancer research laboratories at London's Hammersmith and Charing Cross hospitals.

Deaths of Muslim medical staff

Professor Shousha becomes the fifth British Muslim doctor to die while serving the NHS as the UK struggles to contain the pandemic that has killed 2,921 people at time of writing.

The other four British Muslim doctors who passed away after contracting Covid-19 during their service are Alfa Sa'adu, Amged el-Hawrani, Adil El Tayar and Habib Zaidi.

Dr Adil El Tayar, 63, died on 25 March at London's West Middlesex University Hospital. Originally from Sudan, he was an organ transplant specialist and spent his final days working in the A&E department.

Dr Habib Zaidi, 76, a family GP, died in intensive care at Southend Hospital in Essex on 27 March.

Zaidi, who worked as a doctor in Leigh-on-Sea for more than 45 years, was self-isolating when he developed "textbook symptoms" according to his daughter, Sarah Zaidi, who is also a doctor.

Dr Amged El-Hawrani, 55, was a hospital consultant in the ear, nose and throat department at Queen’s Hospital in Burton, Derbyshire.

El-Hawrani died in Leicester Royal Infirmary on 29 March after testing positive for Covid-19.

His son, Ashraf El-Hawrani, 18, said in a statement that his father was on the frontline and was deeply respected in his profession.

The fourth is the Nigerian-British doctor, Alfa Sa'adu, who died on Tuesday at the age of 68 while volunteering on the frontlines.

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