Hyderabad/Jeddah: Dr Majid Kazi, internationally known alumni of Osmania Medical College, who rose to the enviable position of a personal physician of late King Fahad of Saudi Arabia, passed away in Jeddah on Thursday. He was laid to rest in the Red Sea city on Friday.
Dr Kazi, 81, was born in Aurangabad. He is survived by
wife Carol
Ann, two sons and two daughters.
Dr Kazi received the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award in 2006 at the hands of the President of India A P J Abdul Kalam in Hyderabad.
According to Jeddah-based Arab News Managing Editor Siraj Wahab who also hails from Aurangabad, Kazi Hameeduddin, a leading lawyer of his time, was his father. His brother Qazi Saleem, was a Member of Parliament from Aurangabad. A Congress party stalwart he was close to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Wahab, quoting his earlier interview with Dr Kazi, said that his early childhood and primary education took place in “my beloved city of Hyderabad.” He returned to Hyderabad after a considerable gap as a medical student in 1956 and obtained a degree.
Sources said somewhere in early 2000 he got built a palatial house in Hyderabad’s upmarket Jubilee Hills where he used to spend time with his family during holidays.
According to sources in Saudi Arabia Hyderabad has earned a name in the Saudi Royal family with several top-notch doctors serving the kings, crown prince and princess. Dr Iqbal Sanai who lives in Jeddah had served as personal physician to King Khalid. Dr Osman Abdul Qadir formed part of the team of physicians who were on call for King Fahad when he was the Crown Prince.
In an article which Dr Majid Kazi wrote in 2006 he jotted down how his original name—Majeeduddin Kazi—underwent several changes in Saudi Arabia when he landed in the Kingdom in 1969. He had to settle down for ‘Majid Kazi.’ His wife Carol called him Majju while when he went complete documentation to the Ministry of Interior the officers refused to take his name as as Majeeduddin. They insisted that he should be called Majid. He had no choice but to accept their ‘suggestion.’
He was a witty person that also showed in his writings.