A tribute to Edward John Bowen-Jones

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Edward John Bowen-Jones, MB BS (London), MRCS LRCP, DLO, DObst RCOG, FRCS (Eng), FRCS (Plast), FC Plast Surg (SA), MD (Natal), (27 August 1944e30 October 2008).

 

I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day - and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing (2 Timothy 4:7-8)

 

Edward Bowen-Jones, medical missionary, rural medicine advocate, gifted plastic surgeon, teacher and academic, and the most kind and caring of physicians, died in Durban St Augustine’s Hospital on 30 October 2008.

 

He had faced his terminal illness with faith and courage, and had only stopped working and caring for his patients when he was no longer physically able to do so.

 

Though born in Sri Lanka, Edward was educated in England, and graduated in Medicine from the University of London in 1967. After his internship, he did senior house officer rotations in eyes and ENT, trauma and orthopaedics, and then registrar training in general surgery, accident and emergency medicine, and plastic surgery. By 1971 he had earned a DLO, DObst RCOG and an FRCS (Eng).

 

One of the reasons for Edward’s broad and varied training was that from his teens he had had visions of being a medical missionary in Africa. To further this aim he brought his wife and young children out to South Africa towards the end of 1978 to take up a post as Principal Medical Officer in Surgery at the Butterworth Hospital in the Transkei. A Senior Specialist post in Plastic Surgery was eventually created for him, and he also took on the onerous duties of Senior Medical Superintendent of the hospital.

 

In September 1982 Edward was appointed Principal Specialist/Senior Lecturer and Head of the Sub-department of Plastic Surgery in the University of Natal and he moved his family to Durban. He remained in that post until 1990 when he chose to go into part-time private practice in association with the late John Youngleson, but he remained on as a very active and enthusiastic part-time member of the Department.

 

Edward’s contributions to plastic surgery in Durban, and Natal for that matter, have been outstanding. When he first started as head of the department, he expanded the academic programme and increased the Registrar complement. He instituted the microsurgical service, he started a cleft clinic with maxillofacial and orthodontic colleagues, and he initiated an occuloplastic clinic in conjunction with the Department of Ophthalmology.

 

A course in plastic surgical nursing, which he initiated, was discontinued by the hospital authorities for lack of funding.

 

Edward continued with his contributions to rural medicine even after his move to Durban. He visited peripheral and rural hospitals, in KwaZulu/Natal, seeing patients, operating, and teaching the medical staff and community service doctors in those rural hospitals. He was one of the instigators of the formation of RuDASA, the Rural Hospital Doctors Association of Southern Africa, and he organized its first congress in Durban in 1996.

 

Edward had a passion for teaching. He taught not only medical students and registrars in plastic surgery, but also post-graduates in other surgical disciplines, nurses, physiotherapists, paramedics, speech therapists, aspirant microsurgeons and hand surgeons, occupational therapists and rural medical officers. His contributions to the University of KwaZulu/Natal were not only to the Department of Plastic Surgery. Edward was secretary to the division of surgery for many years. He served on the faculty board, and he was a member of the university senate. He was an examiner for the university not only for higher degrees in surgery and plastic surgery, but also for masters’ degrees in medical science and social science. He also examined for the Medical University of South Africa, and for the College of Plastic Surgeons of South Africa.

 

Edward’s own academic attainments have been exceptional. He was awarded an MD degree, and the only plastic surgeon in this country who passed the FRCS (Plast) of the Intercollegiate Board of the British Royal Colleges. Furthermore, he was one of the only three plastic surgeons in this country awarded the Fellowship of the College of Plastic Surgeons of South Africa by peer review.

 

Another field of interest of Edward’s was cleft lip and palate surgery. He was president of the SA Cleft Lip and Palate Society. He was involved in the formation and functioning of Cleft Pals, a support group for parents of children afflicted with clefts.

 

Edward was chairman of the organizing committee, and President, of the 10th International Congress for Cleft Palate and related anomalies in Durban in 2005 e no mean feat when you are in private practice. He was also on the organizing committees of congresses of the Association of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgeons of South Africa, South African Society for Surgery of the Hand, SA Burn Society and the Cleft Lip and Palate Society.

 

Yet another passion of Edward’s was hand surgery. He was on the executive of the Natal Hand Club for a number of years, and a member of the Executive Committee of the South African Society for Surgery of the Hand for over 10 years, culminating in his election to the presidency of that Society - one of only 7 plastic surgeons in this country to have held that office. During his presidential term he was one of a group of international hand surgeons who were invited to tour, to teach hand surgery, in Russia.

 

He taught and lectured at meetings and congresses of physiotherapists, dermatologists, general practitioner’s, Head & neck surgeons, the SA Infection Control Society, microsurgeons, burn surgeons, and at virtually every plastic and aesthetic surgical meeting in South Africa e and many overseas e including Sweden, the UK, Australia and Canada.

 

We do not know how he found the time, but Edward trained for, and ran the comrades marathon  twice,  the first time when he was 59 years old.

 

In addition to all his accomplishments, Edward will be particularly remembered for his totally selfless concern and care for his patients; he did so much for so many, very often for no, or very little, monetary reward. He was kind and gentle, yet enthusiastic and very involved in all his endeavours, whether they were in his surgical practice, his role in the Department of Plastic Surgery, the university, the numerous organizations and institutions to which he contributed so much, his work for the church, his teaching and medical research.

 

Edward was a true Christian gentleman and an inspiring physician. He will be greatly missed by his family and many friends, his colleagues and his patients.

 

Warwick Morris Anil Madaree Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital, Pvt Bag X03, Mayville, Durban 4058, South Africa E-mail address: Madaree@ukzn.ac.za