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Magoha’s family of doctors: Urologist, gynecologist and neurosurgeon

By Nyaboga Kiage January 25th, 2023 2 min read

Medicine ran in the family of former Education Cabinet Secretary Prof George Albert Omore Magoha, who died on Tuesday, January 24, 2023.

While the late Prof Magoha, who died at the age of 71, was a renowned urologist of many years, his Nigerian wife Dr Barbara Odudu Magoha is a consultant obstetrician and gynecologist.

And quite clearly, the couple passed down their “medical genes” to their only child Dr Michael Magoha, who is also a doctor by profession.

Born in Kisumu County in 1952, Prof Magoha had a Bachelor’s Degree in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Lagos in Nigeria.

He specialised in Urology which is a part of health care that deals with diseases of the male and female urinary tract (kidneys, ureters, bladder and urethra).

He also studied at University of Ibadan, Royal Postgraduate Medical School in the United Kingdom and Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

The professor served as the Cabinet Secretary of Education under President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration and a few days to his demise had just secured a job at Maseno University in the school of medicine.

Also read: 5 education reforms introduced by Professor George Magoha

Before being appointed as Education CS, Prof Magoha was the chairman of the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC). He has also served as the Vice Chancellor of the University of Nairobi.

Prof Magoha ran a clinic at Hurlingham Nairobi and was also a consultant urologist at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH).

He was a student at Starehe Boys Center a top performing national school in Nairobi County.

His wife Dr Odudu Magoha, was born in Nigeria and they both met when the late was studying in the West African country. They got married in the early 1980s.

Dr Odudu Magoha holds a bachelor’s degree in medicine from the University of Lagos in Nigeria and a Masters of Obstetrics and gynecology from the University of Nairobi.

Also read: CS Chelugui: Magoha was a game changer in our education system

She resigned from Kenyatta National Hospital years ago but works as a consultant obstetrician and gynecologist at the same hospital. She is also a medicine lecturer at the University of Nairobi.

A gynecologist specializes in caring for the reproductive health of a woman from the time she gets her first period all the way to post-menopause.

The couple’s son, Dr Michael Magoha, who is a a neurosurgeon, holds a bachelor’s degree in medicine and surgery with a specialization in neurosurgery from the University of Nairobi.

He currently doubles up as a lecturer in Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery at UoN and a consulting surgeon at Kenyatta National Hospital.

A neurosurgeon specializes in the diagnosis and surgical treatment of disorders of the central and peripheral nervous system.

Also read: The day the late Prof George Magoha wanted all naughty sites in Kenya closed