An inimitable GP who retired at 84

He was an excellent, caring, kind and knowledgeable GP who provided superb care for his many patients

Percy Yin Fook Wu was one of the first Hong Kong doctors to gain registration in New Zealand.

The trailblazing Dr Wu graduated in medicine from the University of Hong Kong in 1962 and, within six years, was settling in this country with wife Judy and baby son Nelson.

Dr Wu practised in central, south and west Auckland for 52 years, treating pa­tients of many different ethnicities un­til he was 84, only retiring when the pandemic began in March 2020.

He passed away on 21 July this year, after celebrating his 87th birthday that same month.

During his first years in Auckland, Dr Wu worked at Auckland Hospital, National Women’s Hospital and Green­lane Hospital. He joined GP Robert Bayne Topping in partnership at Mangere Bridge Surgery in 1972.

Dr Wu went on to co-found Mangere Health Centre in 1974. It broke new ground as an integrated health centre, providing affordable 24-hour GP care, laboratory and radiology services, a physiotherapist, pharmacy and small branch of the then Health Department. Dr Wu practised acupuncture as well as Western medicine.

The centre opened to great fanfare, with dignitaries including then health minister Bob Tizard attending the offi­cial ceremony.

At Dr Wu’s funeral on 2 August, son Nelson Wu recalled popping into a con­sultation room at the surgery one day to do his homework. He heard regular, faint beeping noises behind him: “As I slowly turned around, to my surprise, there lay a sleeping patient with acu­puncture needles on his face and body, attached to the acupuncture briefcase.”

In an email read at the service, for­mer colleague and specialist GP David Hall, who still works at Mangere Health Centre, describes Dr Wu as a good man, dignified, formal and compassionate.

“He was an excellent, caring, kind and knowledgeable GP who provided superb care for his many patients,” said Dr Hall.

He says Dr Wu’s patients and the practice team were sad when he sold his share of the practice in 2002. He has been deeply missed since he left, and staff remember him with great fond­ness and respect: “Good doctors with a passion for the job are hard to find.”

There’s also admiration for Dr Wu at Avondale Family Health Centre in Auckland, where he worked part time between January 2003 and March 2020, when the pandemic brought forward his retirement plans.

“An all-round good person down to the core,” co-owner and manager Daniel Healey says of Dr Wu, adding: “GPs in general are pretty good people, but he was outstanding.”

Mr Healey says Dr Wu was well liked by his patients and got on well with all his colleagues. He spoke Cantonese and some Mandarin so had a following of Chinese patients at Avondale. It’s a high health needs, multicultural area so he also treated people of many other ethnicities.

Mr Healey never expected Dr Wu to stick around as long as he did. Other GPs have practised there into their 70s, one left at 81, but nobody has topped Dr Wu’s 84. When he retired, he had an incredible depth of knowledge and a very sharp mind, says Mr Healey.

Specialist GP Coral Fonseca, who worked with Dr Wu at Avondale, says her colleague kept up to date with all the reading and would present cases very well at monthly peer reviews.

Dr Fonseca describes him as a won­derful human being: “Thoughtful, kind, caring, a dedicated physician, who was well liked by all patients and staff.” Occasionally Dr Wu’s former patients pop by to ask for him, she says.

Now working past retirement age herself, on 20 hours a week, Dr Fonse­ca says: “There’s such an acute shortage and, even if you take leave, there is no one to cover.”

In his spare time, Dr Wu did tai chi at Cornwall Park and enjoyed long lunches and robust political discussions with friends afterwards. He had a small frame but knew several martial arts: “You wouldn’t want to meet him in a dark alley,” jokes Mr Healey.

Dr Wu is also known as a devoted family man who supported and encour­aged his children and grandchildren through both good times and challeng­ing ones. His Chinese heritage re­mained important to him throughout his life. One of his daughters, Megan Wu, fondly remembers their 2013 trip to the family’s ancestral village, Panyu, now part of Guangzhou, China.

Dr Wu became a member and fellow of the RNZCGP in 1980, and was made a life member in 2015.

With 10 other alumni, he was found­er in 2005 of the Hong Kong Universi­ty Alumni Association of New Zealand, and served on its executive committee.

Dr Wu is survived by Judy, their chil­dren Nelson, Christine and Megan, and grandchildren Louise, Gemma, André and Ethan.

Says Dr Hall: “He will be deeply missed by all who knew him through­out his long and productive life.”