For Dr. Ramzan (Ram) Abdulla, a Respirologist currently practicing in Regina; his role has always been to help patients live better lives.

To him, medicine is not just about treating the physical aspects for the patient, it’s also looking at the patient’s situation from their perspective.

Ram says, ”State-of-the-art health care should be complemented by kind and caring physicians.”

Thanks to Hospitals of Regina Foundation and their donors, our health region is equipped with state-of-the-art technology and we are able to provide great care right here at home,” Ram says. “In many respects we are at the forefront of medicine in Regina and in southern Saskatchewan.Ram recently had the opportunity to experience the health-care system as a patient when he had shoulder surgery. The orthopedic surgeon used a relatively new process – Reverse Shoulder Arthroplasty.  The surgeon reverses the socket and the ball, placing the ball portion of the shoulder where the socket used to be and the socket where the ball used to be. This creates a shoulder that functions better, is less painful and can last for years without loosening. This is just one example of the state of the art work being done in local health-care.

He also points to the Rawlco Centre for Mother and Baby Care, the Kinsmen Telemiracle Foundation Electrophysiology (EP) Lab, the GMS Cardiac Rhythm Device Clinic, and the Dilawri Simulation Centre as great examples of the innovation in the region that has placed it at the forefront of health care. All of these facilities have been helped by Hospitals of Regina Foundation and community donors.

“I’m proud to boast to my colleagues in other cities and provinces about how good we’ve got it here,” he says. “Hospitals of Regina Foundation has played a tremendous role.”

But he cautions that to sustain this level of health care, the community needs to continue to support Hospitals of Regina Foundation, so it can continue to invest in technology for the health region.

He says health-care providers need to look at their patients’ situation from a holistic perspective. He advises medical students and residents to think of their patients as family members in a vulnerable situation who need compassion, respect and understanding.

As health-care providers, we need to look beyond patients’ immediate health needs and consider how we can prevent a similar situation in the future,” he says. “It’s all about helping them live better lives.It was when he was growing up in Kenya that Ram decided to study medicine and specialize in respirology. Respirologists diagnosis and treat lung diseases like asthma, emphysema, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), pneumonia, tuberculosis and lung cancer.

“Growing up in Kenya, I saw a lot of people with lung diseases like tuberculosis,” Ram says.

He graduated from medical school in Uganda. But in the early ‘70s that country was in political upheaval and he decided to immigrate to Canada. He interned in Montreal, did his residency in Internal Medicine in Ottawa, and trained in Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine in Winnipeg.

Since 1981, Ram has been in clinical practice in Regina and he says Regina has been very good to him and his family. “Regina has made us feel very welcome. We are grateful.”

In addition to his role with RQHR: he has a private practice in Regina, and he is a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan. In the past, he has also served as a council member for the prairies and chairman of the regional advisory committee for the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and the Royal College Examiner for Respiratory Medicine.

Ram’s family shares his passion for health care. His wife has a nursing background and they have three grown children who are all health-care professionals. They are also proud grandparents to Noah and Isabelle.

Dino Sophocleous, President & CEO of Hospitals of Regina Foundation says, “The Foundation is very proud of the work we do, and we're thankful for our community donors who help us support the residents of southern Saskatchewan. It allows our region to attract and retain great, caring health-care providers like Dr. Ram Abdulla.”