THE NEWS of doctor Alfa Sa’adu’s death sent shockwaves through the health service and prompted countless expressions of condolence from the public. Sa’adu who had spent almost 40 years working in the NHS is one of a number of health professionals to have died from COVID-19 in the UK.

The 68-year-old, who worked as a medical director at the Princess Alexandra hospital in Essex and Ealing NHS trust, died on March 31 at the Whittington Hospital in north London.

Yvonne Coghill, director – Workforce Race Equality Standard Implementation Team, NHS England, spoke to The Voice about her former colleague and friend.

“Alfa was a wonderful man. He was part of a programme that I used to run called Breaking Through Programme, which was specifically about getting black and ethnic minority staff into higher level positions and he was on my cohort of what was called the Top Talent programme and he did really really well because ultimately he became deputy chief executive of Ealing Hospital, he was a medical director and he was a wonderful human being,” Coghill said.

Sa’adu’s son Dani has spoken with pride about how passionate his father was about medicine and how concerned and committed he was about saving people, and it’s something that his colleagues note too.

“Alfa being Alfa, he would not sit back whilst this thing was going on. He was a gerontologist so he looked after old people, that was his specialty, and he’s not the type of man that would be sitting at home having a cup of tea and a biscuit whilst all this was going on,” Coghill said.

While his death has been a shock to those that loved him, the outpouring of tributes both here and in Nigeria where he was born have not been a surprise to those who new Sa’adu.

Coghill, who last saw Sa’adu in November and remembers he looked fit and healthy, recounted one of her fondest memories of him. It was roughly five years ago when Sa’adu wore his traditional Nigerian clothing to a Black History Month event he led at West Herts hospital trust.

“He was a chief out there and he donned his African outfit, his gear, his chiefs robes and he walked into the room, banging his stick on the floor and I tell you, everybody just stopped and looked,” she said. “The presence that that man had when he was his authentic self, was phenomenal, I cannot even tell you.”

Coghill is not alone in her praise of Sa’adu, many of those who knew him through working alongside him in the NHS have shared public tributes to him on social media and shared their sadness at his passing in private.

“I absolutely adored him and my heart goes out to his wife, his children, the communities that knew him and loved him, our community – the Breaking Through alumni – who have all been emailing me and saying they are heartbroken about what’s happened with Alfa because he was not just a member of our our group, he was our chief.

For those that have lost friends, family members and loved ones during the current coronavirus outbreak, the reality of the crisis has been made even more stark.

“It’s just a tragedy and that’s when it brought home to me how devastating this disease is when it can take down somebody who was that strong, that fit.

“It makes me emotional to even think about it. I can’t bear it because when you know somebody it makes it so much worse doesn’t it, it makes it much more real. And the fact that Alfa worked in the NHS for as long as he did, he knew so many people, he supported people he helped people he was a larger than life character I can’t even tell you he was just fun and all of that and so intelligent, so bright – and to just be gone like that it’s hard, it’s tough.”

Acutely aware of the devastating impacts COVID-19 can have, Coghill encouraged people to adhere to safety guidelines and take the necessary precautions.

She said: “They’ll be more people that we know that will succumb to it so people just have to keep safe and look after themselves and be sensible about what they do and how they go about doing it.”