Renowned pMB neurosurgeon retires
After an illustrious career, renowned city neurosurgeon, Dr. Michael Anthony Weston Ford, is ready for retirement.
Hailing from Johannesburg, Ford studied towards a science degree at the University of Cape Town (UCT) before switching to medicine. He completed his fellowship in 1984 at the Royal College in Edinburgh, the oldest established surgical college in the world, where he did his training and hospital practical.
He returned to South Africa where he was a senior consultant at the Johannesburg Hospital complex where, in 1990, he was part of a team that successfully separated conjoined Siamese twins.
Happily married to Vivienne since 1974, the father of three moved to Pietermaritzburg in 1990 as he felt that it was a wonderful place for his children to grow up, especially because of its fine schools. Vivienne was an educator at Cordwalles and their youngest daughter followed in her mother’s footsteps. His other daughter is a speech therapist in Pretoria and his son is involved in finance in
London.
In his current rooms at St Anne’s Hospital, Ford said that it has been a wonderful journey witnessing the changes in technology and medicine over the years. “We have seen enormous changes in Pietermaritzburg as old concepts drifted away. When I first moved down here, there were no private hospitals. I started at Grey’s, then the private hospitals appeared, and the younger doctors came through. The appearance of new techniques, and our starting of the spinal unit, made a huge difference. My career has been a real voyage of discovery,” said the neurosurgeon.
His belief and what he has tried to provide to his patients is summed up in the Latin saying “Hinc Sanitas” which translates to “From here on, health”.
The cheerful 70-year-old is not sure how he will spend his retirement as he has lived a life dedicated to medicine.