My brother Huw Thomas, who has died aged 79, lived in Bangor, north Wales, where he was chief executive of the Gwynedd health authority from 1983 to 1996. In a distinguished career in NHS management, he also worked in Kenya, running the hospitals in Kisumu on Lake Victoria, and in Zambia.
For four years from 1999 he worked with the Aga Khan Foundation in Tajikistan, helping to sort out a huge Soviet-era hospital in Khorog, on the Afghan border. While there he became aware that many baby girls in the region suffered from a congenital hip problem that could be easily rectified if treated correctly. He personally set up and financed a health initiative to provide treatment.
When his time in Khorog came to an end, he was presented at a ceremony with full traditional Tajik costume and a carpet with his face woven into it. The local headman said that he “would be remembered for a hundred years”.
Huw loved mountains.
Source: Huw Thomas obituary / The Guardian / Tim Thomas / 26 June 2018
