Mohamed Gueddiche (Arabic: محمد قديش; 25 July 1942 – 21 August 2020) was a Tunisian cardiologist, who also held a senior military rank. His national significance in Tunusia was based in part on his position as the personal physician to President Ben Ali, and previous to that as a physician for Ben Ali's predecessor, Habib Bourguiba.[1]
Mohamed Gueddiche was born in Hammamet, a coastal town in the Nabeul Governorate of northeastern Tunisia. It was here that he received his primary schooling, before moving on to the prestigious Lycée Alaoui in Tunis.[2] He then crossed over to metropolitan France where he studied Medicine at Lyon. On his return he took a first post-qualification position as a member of the cardiology department at the Tunis Military Hospital. Following a series of promotions and further qualifications in the end he became director of the hospital.
He worked as a doctor for President Bourgiba, and was one of the seven who were persuaded to sign a doctors' declaration in the early morning of 7 November 1987 stating that the President was no longer fit to rule. He then became the personal physician to Bourgiba's successor, President Ben Ali, a post he held until Ben Ali's own fall from power in January 2011.[3]
Gueddiche's public career was not without controversy. He played a powerfully positive role in the development of cardiology and the Tunisian hospital network, and through organising congresses and other events to progress and disseminate medical knowledge.[4] There are nevertheless critics who allege that he and his family benefitted conspicuously from his closeness to the Ben Ali regime, reflected, it is said, in villas, a monopoly on the import of certain medicaments, and the launch in 2010 by his son of the radio station Express FM.[5]
Gueddiche was a co-founder of the "Revue tunisienne de la santé militaire" ("Tunisian Review of Military Medicine/Health"), a quarterly publication produced continuously since 1999 and edited under the direction of the military health department of the Ministry of Defence.[6]
Mohamed Gueddiche died on 21 August 2020 at the age of 78.[7]
France: Commander of Legion of Honour France: Commander of the Ordre des Palmes académiques
Italy: Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
Morocco : Commander of the Order of Ouissam Alaouite
Portugal : Grand Officier of the Order of Prince Henry
Romania: Commander of the Order of the Star of Romania
Tunisia