Professor M. Alauddin, FRCS was a legendary ENT Surgeon of Bangladesh. Having obtained his MBBS degree from Sylhet Medical College he served his alma mater for some time. He then moved to the then Institute of Postgraduate Medicine and Research (IPGM&R), precursor of the present Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), and joined the neurosurgery department. This department was then led by the legendary neurosurgeon, the late lamented Prof. Rashid Uddin Ahmed.

Dr. Alauddin had a lifelong dream of pursuing higher education, securing higher knowledge and higher degrees, and making the application of his knowledge in the cause of the poor, impoverished people of his country. In 1973, Bangladesh — not yet out of the swaddling clothes of its infancy — groped under the devastation inflicted on it by the marauding Pakistan Army. She had few opportunities to offer to a young doctor in terms of higher learning and higher degrees.

New to this city, he was thrown into a situation of palpable uncertainty. Not to be deterred, soon he launched himself in the lookout for a job; lo and behold, he got a job in the renowned Hackney Hospital in London. It was not a small feat in those days for a Bangladeshi doctor.

With unremitting zeal and indefatigable energy he continued with his job and simultaneously prepared himself for a Diploma in Otorhinolaryngology (DLO). With this British diploma it became easier for him to prepare for the FRCS degree. His dedication and devotion paid off; shortly he was awarded the coveted degree.

On obtaining the much coveted FRCS, Dr. Alauddin was offered the job of Senior Registrar at the prestigious Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.

His heart lay in his motherland, Bangladesh; he was relentlessly seeking an opportunity to come back and take the plunge. With his education, degree, and training at prestigious hospitals, he could have lived a life of comfort and enormous opportunities in Britain. No temptation, no enticement could waver him — he was always on the course that he had charted for himself. Like an able and astute sailor, he knew for sure that his vessel would reach the shores that he dreamt of.

He was offered the post of Associate Professor of ENT diseases at Sylhet Medical College. It was gratifying and satisfying for him to join his alma mater, this time as an honourable teacher. In no time he was promoted as a Professor and posted at IPGM&R and then to Sir Salimullah Medical College, Dhaka. He did his stint there, to his own satisfaction and to the satisfaction of his patients and students alike.

A few years later he moved over to Dhaka Medical College as Professor and Head of the Department of ENT. When IPGM&R was elevated and converted to the first medical university in Bangladesh, Professor Alauddin was invited to join it as the Professor and founding Chairman of the Department of ENT.

Here at BSMMU, Prof. Alauddin discovered it to be a rewarding experience to educate and train potential specialists — the would-be ENT surgeons. He devoted himself wholeheartedly to his job; he played a pioneering role in designing the curricula, in charting out training programmes, in conducting examinations, and in awarding FCPS and other degrees and diplomas to the upcoming specialists.

But what would happen to his dream? His dream of bringing healthcare to the poor and the impoverished at a cheaper cost?

With his courage of conviction he embarked upon setting up the ENT Foundation, which would be involved with extending services — both medical and surgical — to the poor at a nominal cost. Most of the services, except the surgical ones, are provided free of cost.

He worked day in and day out in translating his dream into reality. It was a herculean task. Accumulation of funds, acquisition of a plot of land, construction of a hospital with all the modern facilities, arrangement of professional advice by specialists, facilities for surgical operations — all were sine qua non for a modern ENT hospital. It was a task few could envisage and envision.

All of a sudden he was diagnosed with lung cancer. Any other ordinary mortal would have broken down and disengaged from the onerous responsibility that he had to shoulder. As no enticement could deter him, so no intimidation of death could take him off guard. With indomitable courage and stoical fortitude he went ahead, undaunted.

He left this world for his eternal abode on the 4th April, 2011. Only once did he succumb to any pressure; this time to inexorable death.