Dr. Abdul cader Raman

NOT A PARADISE, I LOVE MAURITIUS book by DR ABDUL CADER RAMAN 485 PAGES.

Dr. Raman- the legend. (1920-2011)

His father, Dawood Seth, was born in Cutch, India. Living in the vicinity of the mental hospital as it was known then, I bumped into him many times; very well dressed, friendly and polite Consultant at the Brown Sequard hospital. He was credited to have given the name of the famous Mauritian Neurologist, Brown Sequard to the mental hospital. Born in Mauritius, he worked as a consultant in Mauritius, Libya where he was professor of psychiatry for few years, and Canterbury, England. This book is full of souvenirs. There are many unforgettable stories about him.

Credit must be given to Dr. Raman for re-organising the mental hospital, having completed his studies in the United Kingdom, he returned to Mauritius with the view of improving the mental health service in Mauritius by changing the perception of those who suffered from mental health as 'pagla' or 'fou'. He worked relentlessly in offering facilities such as appropriate clothing and care for those being treated at the mental hospital.

As a child, we were often threatened with 'if you don't behave, you will end up with an appointment with Dr. Raman.

Apparently, he also wrote the first two lines of 'donn to la main , pran mo la main', a song about uniting Mauritians, something he contributed a lot to by acting as a referee for politicians.

Dr. Raman was also a leading psychiatrist putting Mauritius on the world map as an advisor for World Health Organisation (WHO) amongst many international research programs on mental health and schizophrenia.

Unfortunately, his name is not celebrated and not given its due.

Thank you to Assad Bhuglah who pointed out that Dr. Raman also wrote the first few lines of 'Donn to la main pran mo la main", a song about national unity in English, which was translated to Creole.

By Prega Vencatasawmy

If you are interested in reading some fo Dr. Raman's research, you can find it : https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/136346159303000203