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18. Dr. Farzana Niazi – a friend of the poor
Massi Fatima has T.B. and her husband is a heart patient . Massi Zainab‘s infant son has hepapitis B and her husband suffered a stroke . Munira’s father left his ailing wife and his eight children . And now Munira has to eke and herself and the family .All three are sitting outside Dr. Farzana Niazi’s clinic waiting for their turn simultaneously bemoaning their fate . All three of them , beside many more , are given a very patient hearing , free medicines and free flour . Besides, in the month of Ramazan , she distributes flour to the needy .
I have known the Niazis since 1953 being a friend and class mate of one of her brothers, who has passed away a couple of years ago after a prolonged illness. Dr. Farzana was the only daughter of Mr. A.K. Niazi, the first income practitioner and a well known figure of the town and his wife. The child was the apple of the parents. They doted on her. She was educated in the Presentation Convent High School with her three brothers and me. We went to school in the same school bus before taking admission in Saint Mary’s Cambridge, Murree Road because boys were not allowed to continue there
After school, she joined the Gordon College, Rawalpindi .I followed there after two years. She went to Lahore to join the Fatima Jinnah Medical College from where she passed out in flying colours, After her medical school, she joined the Rawalpindi General Hospital. After marriage, she went to the U.K, where both the husband, a lovely and a sweet soul, and the wife joined their respective teaching hospitals. Both returned home in the mid seventies to serve the country. They had two sons and one daughter.
But she often in and out of jobs because she did not learn to play the game foul. She tried to practice but her practice never picked up for the same reasons . She was also picked up to be present when late Mr. Bhutto announced his Health Policy and she tore into the policy apart .
In late eighties , tragedy struck the family. Not keeping good health herself she suffered an additional burden with looking after her aged parents ,a sick brother ,But that tragedy shook her completely when her second son met with a scooter accident while going to his tutor. He was a smart , intelligent and a
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very likeable young . He was my children’s favourite . He suffered a concussion on the head and has not recovered . Seeing that his chances of recovery were bleak , the mother took him home .But still the physio-therapist , whom the brave mother engaged for her son , comes home daily and has a full one hour’s session with him under her close supervision .
But she took her loss bravely . Instead of crying , she took to praying for her son’s recovery . Not that , she never did pray before that sad event . But that she began praying all the more . Almost simultaneously , she listened to an inner voice advising her to help the poor and the downtrodden . Since her house was adjacent to a katchi abadi , ( a poor locality) she opened a free dispensary in her house in Millat Colony , behind Shabistan Cinema . She daily examines 35 woman patients from that katchi abadi from 9.00 till 11.00 AM. These women are given their numbers . Each woman who comes to her miserable to her carries a tale of untold misery and deprivation . To listen to Dr. Niazi , one never cease to wonder that the only crime of these women and their men folk was that they were born poor . This happening in the Islamic republic of Pakistan . The institution of Zakat and Bait-ul-mal have been in established in the eighties . But no government is prepared to institute remedial measures to alleviate their poverty or sympathize with their sufferings .
Dr. Niazi seeks no help from the Government . The major donor is Mr. Shakir , who donates a part of the monthly supply of drugs and medicines . Sometimes other people also chip for example , Mr. Ardershir Cowasjee who once donated Rs 10000/, through Ms Amina Jilani , and Mr . Tariq Ikram who donated Rs 5000 /..
The Mr. Bhutto dreamt of a society for Pakistan like that of the Scandinavian countries. Islam provides all that and much more . But we lack the will to implement . The result is that the haves with their unearned and easy wealth ( reference the World Bank ‘s and other similar reports that Pakistan tops the list of the most corrupt in the world ) are lolling in luxury while the have nots have no bread to eat . In these circumstances the least we could is help good Samaritans like Dr. Farzana Niazi in her mission.
18. Dr. Farzana Niazi – a friend of the poor
Massi Fatima has T.B. and her husband is a heart patient . Massi Zainab‘s infant son has hepapitis B and her husband suffered a stroke . Munira’s father left his ailing wife and his eight children . And now Munira has to eke and herself and the family .All three are sitting outside Dr. Farzana Niazi’s clinic waiting for their turn simultaneously bemoaning their fate . All three of them , beside many more , are given a very patient hearing , free medicines and free flour . Besides, in the month of Ramazan , she distributes flour to the needy .
I have known the Niazis since 1953 being a friend and class mate of one of her brothers, who has passed away a couple of years ago after a prolonged illness. Dr. Farzana was the only daughter of Mr. A.K. Niazi, the first income practitioner and a well known figure of the town and his wife. The child was the apple of the parents. They doted on her. She was educated in the Presentation Convent High School with her three brothers and me. We went to school in the same school bus before taking admission in Saint Mary’s Cambridge, Murree Road because boys were not allowed to continue there
After school, she joined the Gordon College, Rawalpindi .I followed there after two years. She went to Lahore to join the Fatima Jinnah Medical College from where she passed out in flying colours, After her medical school, she joined the Rawalpindi General Hospital. After marriage, she went to the U.K, where both the husband, a lovely and a sweet soul, and the wife joined their respective teaching hospitals. Both returned home in the mid seventies to serve the country. They had two sons and one daughter.
But she often in and out of jobs because she did not learn to play the game foul. She tried to practice but her practice never picked up for the same reasons . She was also picked up to be present when late Mr. Bhutto announced his Health Policy and she tore into the policy apart .
In late eighties , tragedy struck the family. Not keeping good health herself she suffered an additional burden with looking after her aged parents ,a sick brother ,But that tragedy shook her completely when her second son met with a scooter accident while going to his tutor. He was a smart , intelligent and a
68
very likeable young . He was my children’s favourite . He suffered a concussion on the head and has not recovered . Seeing that his chances of recovery were bleak , the mother took him home .But still the physio-therapist , whom the brave mother engaged for her son , comes home daily and has a full one hour’s session with him under her close supervision .
But she took her loss bravely . Instead of crying , she took to praying for her son’s recovery . Not that , she never did pray before that sad event . But that she began praying all the more . Almost simultaneously , she listened to an inner voice advising her to help the poor and the downtrodden . Since her house was adjacent to a katchi abadi , ( a poor locality) she opened a free dispensary in her house in Millat Colony , behind Shabistan Cinema . She daily examines 35 woman patients from that katchi abadi from 9.00 till 11.00 AM. These women are given their numbers . Each woman who comes to her miserable to her carries a tale of untold misery and deprivation . To listen to Dr. Niazi , one never cease to wonder that the only crime of these women and their men folk was that they were born poor . This happening in the Islamic republic of Pakistan . The institution of Zakat and Bait-ul-mal have been in established in the eighties . But no government is prepared to institute remedial measures to alleviate their poverty or sympathize with their sufferings .
Dr. Niazi seeks no help from the Government . The major donor is Mr. Shakir , who donates a part of the monthly supply of drugs and medicines . Sometimes other people also chip for example , Mr. Ardershir Cowasjee who once donated Rs 10000/, through Ms Amina Jilani , and Mr . Tariq Ikram who donated Rs 5000 /..
The Mr. Bhutto dreamt of a society for Pakistan like that of the Scandinavian countries. Islam provides all that and much more . But we lack the will to implement . The result is that the haves with their unearned and easy wealth ( reference the World Bank ‘s and other similar reports that Pakistan tops the list of the most corrupt in the world ) are lolling in luxury while the have nots have no bread to eat . In these circumstances the least we could is help good Samaritans like Dr. Farzana Niazi in her mission.
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