Doctor Abdool Cader Abdool Raman (known to many of us as Docteur Raman) passed away at home near Canterbury, Kent, England on the 13th February 2011 aged 90.  He leaves a widow and three sons.  He was best known as an eminent psychiatrist in both Mauritius and internationally.

Born to a prominent Port Louis merchant and businessman, he was the eldest of nine children.  He expressed an interest in becoming a doctor from the age of seven and after completing his primary education at Chamarel school, he persuaded his father to let him go on to Royal College, Port Louis for his secondary education.  This marks a clear change from tradition as children from within his community at the time were more usually expected to join the family business after completing their education,

After obtaining his matriculation  (the forerunner of the school Certificate), Cader Raman worked as a treasury clerk at the Ministry of Finance for a few years.  The war necessitated that he put off his plans to go to England to train as a doctor.  During this time he helped found the Muslim Scout Movement, an achievement he always remained proud of. Of this  Movement, emerged the Muslim Scout Football Club.

After the war, Cader Raman came to London where he trained as a doctor at Guy’s Hospital.  He then worked in general medicine at Rochford Hospital, Essex before developing an interest in Psychiatry. He moved to Runwell Hospital, Wickford, Essex as a trainee psychiatrist and later went on to the Royal Eastern Counties Hospital, Colchester, Essex.  He undertook his psychiatric training at the Maudsley Hospital, London.  During this time, he married his first wife Barbara in 1952 and in 1953 his eldest son Karrim was born. 

Cader Raman returned to Mauritius in1955 as the first qualified Mauritian psychiatrist.  He joined the Mental Health Hospital in Beau Bassin, now renamed the Brown Sequard Hospital. From the start Cader Raman worked tirelessly to transform this hospital, originally a wing of the Beau Bassin prison, into a modern psychiatric hospital.  He served for many years as its Superintendent before taking up a position as  a Consultant Psychiatrist.  He retired from the Brown Sequard Hospital in 1976.

During his period at the Brown Sequard Hospital, Cader Raman became active in research and published many papers which brought him international recognition and acclaim.  These were mainly in the areas of the role of culture in psychiatric illness and schizophrenia.  This led amongst other things to his appointment as an adviser to the World Health Organisation, a secondment to McGill University, Montreal, Canada, for a joint project and to the establishment of the Joint Child Health Project, a collaborative project sponsored by the Danish Government.  He was further a founder member of the Pan - African Association of Psychiatrist and travelled around the world delivering papers at international conferences.

Of his achievements on the domestic front, there are several including a prime mover in setting up the Mental Health Association, the Stella Clavisque Club – a social club aimed at promoting multicultural activity and the Movement D’Entente National also aimed at promoting multi-cultural understanding.  Cader Raman also took an interest in his own community and was elected on the governing committee of the Jummah Mosque.  He further played a major part in helping the conflicting parties to resolve their differences and settle matters during the racial difficulties in 1967.

Cader Raman’s second son Adam was born in 1963.  His first son Karrim became blind in the mid 70s and this was a key factor in him taking early retirement from Brown Sequard Hospital and moving to England where Karrim was undergoing treatment. 

He was appointed Consultant Psychiatrist at St Augustine’s Hospital, Canterbury in 1976 where he worked for ten years.  During this time he got divorced and married his second wife Valerie.  He adopted her son David.

After retiring from St Augustine’s Hospital, he took up an appointment at Benghazi University, Lybia as Professor of Psychiatry where he worked for four years.

On his return to England in 1990, he continued to work part-time well into his eighties as a locum and in prisons and addiction centres.  He also published two books: Not A Paradise, I love you Mauritius – letters from Mauritius, England and Lybia (1991) Letters from England and Mauritius – My last 10 years of the 20th Century (2006).