Naguib Pasha Mahfouz - The First Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Egypt

The First Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Egypt

Mahfouz qualified as a doctor in December 1902, coming top of his year. In 1904 and after a two-year spell at Suez hospital, he was appointed as an anaesthetist at Kasr El Aini hospital. As there was no such thing as a department of obstetrics or gynaecology at Kasr El Aini hospital, Mahfouz started a weekly gynaecological outpatient clinic. This turned out to be such a success that two whole wards were soon dedicated to obstetrical and gynaecological patients, and so the first department of obstetrics and gynaecology in Egypt came into existence. Mahfouz acquired much experience in dealing with difficult labour, partly from an agreement that he had struck with the medical officers who delivered women in their homes: whenever they faced a difficult labour, the medical officers would call Mahfouz into attendance. For his part, he would attend to the patient's house and help them deal with the most complicated cases without charging a fee. During the fifteen years to come, Mahfouz attended about two thousand women with difficult labour in their own homes. During this time, he recalls sleeping no more than two nights a week in the comfort of his own home. One of the children that Naguib Mahfouz delivered after a difficult labour, was named after him in 1911. This child later became the laureate of the Nobel prize in literature, the famous novelist Naguib Mahfouz.