For Regina-based respirologist Dr. Ramzan (Ram) Abdulla, his role has always been to help patients live better lives. To him, medicine is not just about treating the physical condition of the patient, it’s also about looking at the patient’s situation from their perspective.

Ram says, “The best health care should be complemented by kind and caring physicians. Thanks to Hospitals of Regina Foundation and their donors, our health region is equipped with state-of-the-art technology, and we are able to provide great care right here at home. In many respects we are at the forefront of medicine in Regina and in southern Saskatchewan.”

Ram recently had the opportunity to experience the health-care system as a patient when he had shoulder surgery. The orthopedic surgeon used a relatively new process – reverse shoulder arthroplasty. The surgeon reverses the socket and the ball, placing the ball portion of the shoulder where the socket used to be and the socket where the ball used to be. This creates a shoulder that functions better, is less painful and can last for years without loosening. This is just one example of the state-of-the-art work being done in Regina’s local health care.

Ram points to the Rawlco Centre for Mother and Baby Care, the Kinsmen Telemiracle Foundation Electrophysiology (EP) Lab, the GMS

Cardiac Rhythm Device Clinic and the Dilawri Simulation Centre as other great examples of the innovation happening in local health care. All of these facilities have been supported by Hospitals of Regina Foundation.

“I’m proud to boast to my colleagues in other cities and provinces about how good we’ve got it here,” he says. “Hospitals of Regina Foundation has played a tremendous role.”

When he was growing up in Kenya, Ram decided to study medicine and specialize in respirology. Respirologists diagnose and treat lung diseases like asthma, emphysema, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), pneumonia, tuberculosis and lung cancer.

Since 1981, Ram has been in clinical practice in Regina, and he says Regina has been very good to him and his family. “Regina has made us feel very welcome. We are grateful.”

Dr. Abdulla also has a private practice in Regina, and he is a clinical professor of medicine at the University of Saskatchewan. In the past, he also served as a council member for the prairies and chairman of the regional advisory committee for the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and the Royal College Examiner for Respiratory Medicine.

Ram’s family shares his passion for health care. His wife has a nursing background and they have three grown children, who are all health-care professionals.

Dino Sophocleous, president and CEO of Hospitals of Regina Foundation says, “The Foundation is very proud of the work we do, and we're thankful for our community donors who help us support the residents of southern Saskatchewan. It allows our region to attract and retain great, caring health-care providers like Dr. Ram Abdulla.”