Monrovia – Families in Monrovia have announced the death in his 87th year of Dr. (MD) Walter Traub Gwenigale.
“Dr. G”, as he was affectionately referred to in most circles, was inarguably one of Liberia’s brilliant medical practitioners. He was a Surgeon and practiced this craft for over 40 years, making his name a household one in every nook and cranny of Liberia.
Dr. G, who served as Liberia’s Minister of Health and Social Welfare from 2006 to 2015, died at the John F. Kennedy Medical Center Friday, April 22, at 6:04 a.m., this newspaper was told. Before his death, he was admitted at the hospital last Friday and had successfully undergone a surgery following a fall.
However, he developed other medical complications and didn’t recover from them. Apparently during the fall, he had developed Subdural Hematoma, a condition of blood on the brain. But the surgery to repair the damage caused by the fall was successful.
Over the four decades that he practiced medicines in Liberia and possibly elsewhere before his retirement from active duty, he held a number of positions in the health sector, including being the Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Bong County Health Officer, Director of Phebe Hospital in Bong County and President of the Christian Health Association of Liberia. He also served on the Executive Board of the World Health Organization (WHO); and also served as a Board Member of the Roll Back Malaria campaign.
When the Liberian civil war ended and Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was elected President in 2005, Dr. Gwenigale was a central figure in her administration. He helped to rebuild and strengthen a health system devastated by war.
“He championed the expansion of the health system across the country and pushed for more donor support as well as its independence. And he led the Sirleaf administration’s fight against the Ebola disease. However, his no-nonsense work ethic made him a controversial figure with the health workers association,” the Daily Observer newspaper wrote.
Upon his retirement from public service on June 6, 2015, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf described him as “a symbolic icon with a commitment and duty to public service that we all must endeavor to emulate in upholding the public trust that has been bestowed upon us as a government”.
She further described him as “a masterful manifestation of humbled and exemplary life that comes on par with nothing short of unassuming excellence.” She further said of him: “He is a personality who epitomizes the philosophy of ‘doing for his country and not asking what his country can do for him’. ‘Imagine the nightmare in the heat of our conflict when various Liberian professionals including doctors were fleeing for their lives; Dr. Gwenigale remained to be of service to his country saving lives at Phebe Hospital when he could have fled,’” former President Sirleaf had emphasized.
“Our nation,” President Sirleaf underscored, “has an obligation to venerate our distinguished “Honoree”, who, throughout more than a decade of civil strife; defied the odds and served the country – focusing on practicing his noble profession by saving lives even after the Liberia’s post-war quasi-democratic political transition.”
“We, as a people must adore his nationalism and acceptance to work in Liberia’s first post-conflict truly elected democratic administration,” the Liberian Chief Executive said, adding, “In his statesmanlike persona – he has never shied away from the principles that have always guided his sense of judgment and belonging. Such principles have always been informed by fairness, hard work, free will, free expression, honesty and bluntness.” She said although Dr. Gwenigale would disagree and hold firmly to his views – his cantankerousness on the other hand was part of what we have had to grapple with as a people.
Dr. Gwenigale completed a BA in Chemistry from the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico in 1963 and a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine.
The late Dr. Walter Traub Gwenigale is survived by his widow of nearly 52 years, Carmen, of Puerto Rico, USA, two sons, Walter Jr, Cllr. Raymond (Stacey) and Carmen (Mike) Ogoli; five grandchildren and Michael Gwenigale, Jr, his brother’s son, who he reared.
