Medical fraternity mourns death of senior malariologist

The medical fraternity is mourning the demise of a celebrated medic, Dr Charles Sezi, a senior consultant physician who had specialised in fighting malaria.

The malariologist worked as a physician at Mulago Hospital for years and tutored many young doctors before he retired. By press time, it was not yet clear what exactly caused Dr Sezi's death.

The Uganda Medical Association (UMA) president, Dr Richard Idro, described Sezi as an icon of medicine in Uganda from whose legacy and practices many young doctors' careers developed.

"UMA celebrates the life of an icon of medicine in Uganda," Idro said today, adding that Sezi was a medic who impacted on the career of generations of doctors and the practice of medicine not only in Uganda but in East Africa as a whole.  "Your legacy and memory will remain in our hearts," Idro added.

As recognition for his unequivocal service to the country, President Yoweri Museveni recently gave Sezi an award for his contribution towards the fight against malaria in Uganda. The President awarded him a plaque.

Sezi in the news

Besides being a renowned medic and his contribution to the medical fraternity, Sezi was always in the news over his stand that would sometimes breed controversy.

In November 2001, he is remembered for having triggered a debate when he suggested that HIV patients be labelled as a way of easy identification to help the fight against the scourge.

At a conference of over 450 doctors and consultants in Kampala, while presenting a paper on the 'Rights of Health Workers and Patients in the control of HIV/AIDS', Sezi suggested labelling would help to identify those with HIV/AIDS.

In a debate that followed, doctors were divided. Some doctors agreed with him and suggested that a new law should be enacted to make HIV testing a must so that those found to be positive are tracked and prevented from marriages. However, other doctors said this would be an abuse of human rights and would lead to social discrimination.

In July 2003, Sezi and Prof. Medi Kawuma, a consultant ophthalmologist, warned that excessive use of anti-malarial drugs; chloroquine, quinine, and mepacrine can cause blindness.

Sezi and Kawuma told an international students' conference on malaria control that research had shown the three drugs had toxic effects and could lead to total or partial visual impairment.

In his research paper titled; ‘The phenomenon of diminishing -returns in the use of bed nets and indoor house spraying and the emerging place of antimalarial medicines in the control of malaria in Uganda', Sezi rubbished the use of a mosquito net to fight malaria.

In the article that was published in March 2014 in the Africa Health Sciences Journal, Sezi argued that the mosquito net existed long before it was known that mosquitoes transmitted malaria, and that therefore it was not intended for malaria control.