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SCMP Reporter

A small man but a medical giant, say those saved by Ong Guan Bee

Amid the large congregation at St Joseph's Church yesterday to attend the funeral of  Ong Guan Bee were a group with special reason to give thanks for the life of the man who was a global surgical icon.

They were some of the  thousands of patients who owe their lives and health to the surgical skills of the brilliant medical pioneer who died on January 10.

As they waited for the ceremony to begin, the survivors of serious cancers chatted about the  surgeon whose innovative operating room techniques are now standard procedures worldwide.

'I had cervical cancer when Dr Ong operated on me 13 years ago,' recalled Betty Law Au Yuen-mei. She was speaking to  Peter Leung Wai-sun, who remembered his operation for a ruptured liver tumour the same year.

'It's a miracle we are alive,' said  Theresa Lam Hoi-chu, a teacher who had liver surgery five times. 'I'm only alive today because of him. We owe it to the professor.'

So do a lot of other people. Among the crowd gathered for the ceremony were people who 25 years ago underwent surgical procedures which were then radical.

The survivors chatted quietly about the tiny man who was a giant of the medical world.

In his eulogy,  George Choa Wing-sien remembered with fondness and joy the man with whom he had shared a room when  they were young doctors in 1948.

The initials 'G.B.' to  Ong's patients meant 'Great Benefactor', Dr Choa said. The letters meant 'Great Boss' to the people with whom he worked. 'To me, they mean Good Brother.'

Ong used to remark that there was no greater honour than to see his patients walk out of the hospital ward and go home to their families, Dr Choa recalled.

'He inspired us with his art and craft of surgery. He put Hong Kong surgery on the world map. He made us proud.'

Among those remembering the life of  Ong yesterday were doctors whom he had taught basic surgery four decades ago. Nurses, doctors, hospital staff, community leaders and friends filled the church. There were wreaths from former students who are now world-renowned surgeons.

Ong, who was born in Sarawak in 1921, was for 17 years head of the University of Hong Kong Surgical Unit at Queen Mary Hospital.

When he retired from government service in 1982 aged 61, he had performed in the course of his remarkable career more than 36,000 operations. Some of these involved radical breakthroughs in surgical procedure. He was a pioneer of innovative operations for cancer of the head, nose and throat.

He then continued his career in private practice.

Ong is survived by his second wife, Paula and eight children, Patricia, Peter, Michelle, Josephine, Catherine, Caroline, Liza and  Michael.



Survivors gather to honour the master surgeon