CENPA Award Night: Dr MAL Fobi Cameroon Diaspora Personality of The Year.

This was during the prestigious Cameroon English Language Newspaper Publishers Association, CENPA, Award Night.  The crowd pulling event took place at the Andre Siaka Hall, GeCAM in Douala. 

The revered medic, with decades of experience in the field of surgery, was among several distinguished laureates honoured Saturday by CENPA. 

The US-based medic flew to Cameroon to enjoy the honour and celebration fitting his person and aura for selfless service to humanity that has in the process honoured the country.

According to the CENPA award jury, Dr MAL Fobi emerged the most outstanding Cameroonian Diaspora compatriot for: “Flying Cameroon’s flag high in the Diaspora for decades in the field of medicine, featuring as United States of America’s most successful surgeon from Africa and for hugely impacting the lives of Cameroonians in the Diaspora and back home.”

Prophet honoured at home at last 

For Dr MAL Fobi, the Diaspora Personality of The Year Award is not the first recognition he is getting for decades of service to human kind as a surgeon of renown. 

Having toured at least 70 countries and getting several forms of honour in the process, he quipped that the award from CENPA is unique and consoling.

He told guests at the historic event in Douala that ordinarily, he should have assigned his nephew to represent him but for the fact that it was an honour from the press in Cameroon. 

“I am honoured. I have been to more than 70 countries but when I am honoured by my own, I have to be here. I almost asked my nephew to represent me and take the award, but I had just been to Toronto and I said if I went to Toronto, why not Cameroon,” Dr MAL Fobi stated.

The laureate also extended appreciation to friends for joining him to celebrate the recognition.

Use power of press to construct 

He further stated that beyond receiving the award, he sees in his presence a window for the Cameroonian press to zoom on several compatriots in the medical field excelling abroad. 

He charged the press to use its enormous power for the good of the country. 

“I came here not just because I need the award, but I hope that I'll open the road for you guys to talk to other doctors. I am not the only Cameroonian doctor, there are many of us. The press has a lot of power. Use it and use it for construction,” the award-winning medic added.

Weighs in on need to end bloodletting in NW, SW

Dr MAL Fobi, who disclosed at the event that it’s been 60 years since he left the country in 1966, said there is the urgent need to end the bloodletting in the North West and South West Regions. 

The native of Nkwen, in Bamenda, Mezam Division, lamented that the crisis has made many communities insecure. 

He urged the press to join other stakeholders to push for “to push for a negotiated solution to the problems of the North West and South West Regions”.

Gov’t should open up to Diaspora 

On contributions of the Diaspora to power development home, Dr MAL Fobi appealed to the authorities of the country to further open up and liaise with the Diaspora. 

“...The government has to start inviting us back home. We don't have all the answers but we can collaborate with you,” the veteran surgeon stated.

He cited a grouping of Cameroonian medical practitioners, which he founded in the United States as one of such groupings that could work with authorities to power development back home. 

The Association, he added, is already planning for a meeting to be staged in Douala in January 2027.

From Cameroon to the world 

Born in 1946, in Nkwen, Bamenda, Mezam Division of the North West Region, Dr MAL Fobi is one of the pioneer students of Sacred Heart College Mankon in 1961. 

He won the African Scholarship Program of American Universities, ASPAU, and moved to the United States of America in 1966. 

By 1974, he had earned a Medical Degree, MD, from the University of Cincinnati; qualifying him as a surgeon. 

He is revered globally for having invented the banded gastric bypass; a modification using a silastic ring to prevent stomach sack stretching. It has since become the yardstick for sustaining weight loss.

With a career in surgery for over 50 years, Dr MAL Fobi headed the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, ASMBS, from 2005 to 2007.

From 2008 to 2009, he also headed the International Federation for Surgery and other Therapies for Obesity, IFSO. He later chaired the IFSO’s Board of Trustees, from 2013-2015.

He is on record as one of the pioneers of bariatric surgery across the world. Dr MAL Fobi has received among other recognitions; the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, ASMBS, Lifetime Achievement Award and IFSO Lifetime Membership. These are principally for his invaluable contributions to metabolic and bariatric surgery.

The celebrity surgeon also created the African Centre for Policy and Advocacy, ACPA; that has supported several medical doctors in Cameroon. 

Through the Ngwebifor Foundation, which he named after his mother, the CENPA Diaspora Personality of The Year has offered medical supplies to several health facilities in the country.

He has traced to his person and generosity, the training of several generations of surgeons across the globe. Hundreds of Cameroonians have emerged as professionals globally, thanks to Dr MAL Fobi. 

He also served as Director at Mohak Bariatrics, Indore, India, as part of his ambition to train young surgeons.

Special 80th birthday 

This season is very extraordinary for Dr MAL Fobi. This Monday, September 21, is his 80th birthday. He is living the moment in the land of his ancestors with records reflecting just how thick and revealing his legacy is globally.

Records show he has in 50 years as a surgeon, changed the lives of at least 10,000 persons and influence medical practice hugely in 30 countries. 

At the CENPA Award Night last Saturday in Douala, he declared that: “I am retired but not tired.” Dr MAL Fobi is blessed with four kids, two of who are lawyers, a business executive and a medical doctor.