A scholarly and diplomatic biography full of achievements and fraught with challenges, its last line was written today (Friday) the ninth of Ramadan 1444 with the death of one of the most famous and loyal statesmen, Dr. Osama Shobokshi. The former minister and ambassador, who passed away in the city of Jeddah at the age of eighty, spent most of his time serving the country and humanity.
A self-taught man, death passed the chapters of his prosperous life, but he kept a fragrant biography that will be immortalized in the memory of the Saudis as one of the most influential personalities in his ministerial and medical era.
The late deceased was born in 1943, obtained a high school diploma in November 1963, and obtained a bachelor's degree in medicine from the University of Erlangen in February 1970, then a doctorate from the same university in February of 1974.
His scientific craving would not stop at a time when his passion for knowledge was increasing with the increase of his desire to specialize. He obtained a consultation in the specialty of internal diseases from Leonberg Teaching Hospital, followed by a doctorate in philosophy from the same university in March 1976.
He returned to his homeland with his knowledge and hopes to start great success stories, to join the faculty membership at King Abdulaziz University in his capacity as Dean of the College of Medicine until he became the Director of the University.
In 1995, Shobokshi won the royal confidence by appointing him as Minister of Health, and he remained there until 2003, then he was appointed as an advisor to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, before he concluded his stations with his appointment in August 2004 as ambassador to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to Germany, and he continued in the position until 2015.
During his life, he held a number of positions and memberships, the most famous of which were his memberships in the Board of Directors of the King Fahd Center for Medical Sciences, the Board of Directors of the University Hospital, and the Board of the College of Medicine and Medical Sciences.
One of the most influential situations in his life was the loss of his only son, Abdul Majeed, who died in a traffic accident in Jeddah Governorate, on a day that the deceased described as the worst in his life. He is the father of an only daughter, Maya.
The late recounted his childhood suffering in his famous book
“Glories and Testimonies” where he struggled with death and disease, referring to his birth in the neighborhood of the oppressed in the house of his paternal grandfather, then his move to Medina and his infection with pneumonia, which he subjected to ironing for treatment, and the writer portrayed what he was finding of the hardships of living and the roughness of life, and his failure to obtain the required percentage For scholarship, his father – may God have mercy on him – did not suffer the hardship of providing the scholarship amount, so he sold his golden watch for a small amount, to move to Germany, opening the door to challenges wide, as the need to combine perseverance in his scientific mission and work in a strange country, where he was forced to work as an ice cream seller as mentioned. In his book, then a worker in a farm, then a worker in a biscuit factory.. until he joined a German submarine factory..
He made a change in every work station there, as his management of the university was a quantum leap in terms of its structure and infrastructure, while he contributed to resolving and removing many of the problems of the Ministry of Health.
Okaz (Jeddah)