After his long-year journey, during which he moved between university seats, up to the ministry chair, and ending with the position of ambassador, the doctor, minister, and ambassador, Osama Shobokshi, passed away to God's mercy, and he recorded achievements with all seriousness and sincerity.
From the alleys of Al-Mazloum Alley in Jeddah, Abu Abdul-Majid’s journey began, and he started it in the classrooms of Al-Falah School to end with him holding a bachelor’s degree in medicine from the University of Erlangen in Germany. Two years later in Philosophy.
Shobokshi returned to the homeland, and to his college from which he launched his dream of a doctorate, the College of Medicine at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, and after a while he became its dean and then assumed the position of university director after a journey of continuous struggle, but he soon left the administration chair after only three years. And a decision was issued to appoint him with royal confidence as Minister of Health, and health officials testified that his speeches and circulars that he signed were not devoid of reminding God and intimidating him from wasting the trust.
Shobokshi says about himself in the book (Stances and Testimonies), which tells his autobiography, that when he went to Germany, he did not have the money to live and learn except what covers 3 months, which forced him to work in many professions as an ice cream seller on the outskirts of the city of Trier and a farmer in one of the cities. The fields for 12 hours a day, to the point that he sometimes slept bent over from the severity of the pain, and he also worked in a biscuit factory as well, until one time he worked in a submarine factory, and the noise of the machines was loud and the strong sound ripped his ears until he became deaf, after that he moved to the city of Kiel To study the undergraduate level, and out of four thousand applicants, only 180 students were accepted, including the author, and he continued to work at night and study during the day, and continued in this way until he obtained his bachelor's degree, winning first place in the state of Bavaria.
Shobokshi's transition from the university administration chair to the ministry chair posed a great challenge in his life, as that leap represented a great dream for him that became fulfilled, but he needed more work, giving, giving, and sacrifice, which was what he did – may God have mercy on him – as his ministerial period was known to be to pay off debts and age The regulations and legislation regulating health work, according to what his contemporaries who worked with him attested, as he was known – may God have mercy on him – for his strictness and unity in the conduct of work, which prompted King Fahd to extend a second ministerial term for him due to the exertion and effort he felt from him. In 2003, Shobokshi left the health portfolio to become an advisor at the Royal Court, then an ambassador to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques in Germany for several years, before leaving diplomatic and governmental work and returning to Jeddah after many years spent in the corridors of responsibility, official work and high positions.
Illness overtook Shobokshi and kept him in bed for a long time, but it did not give him more time when death took him away after his long suffering with his terminal illness, which ended with his death on Friday, March 31, 2023 in the city of Jeddah.
Abdullah Al-Rooqi (Makkah Al-Mukarramah) @alroogy
