30-506: Civil Hospital Karachi , officially known as Dr. Ruth K. M. Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi , is a 1,900-bed tertiary care public hospital that imparts both undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and training. It is one of the teaching hospitals affiliated with the Dow Medical College , Karachi. Dr. Ruth K.M. Pfau Hospital was founded as The Civil Hospital Karachi in 1898 in the wake of a third pandemic of Bubonic Plague on
60-589: A Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral to celebrate Pfau's 70th birthday, which was attended by both Christians and Muslims. In the early morning on 10 August 2017, around 4:00 a.m. PST , Pfau died at the Aga Khan University Hospital in Karachi after being admitted there due to respiratory problems on 4 August 2017. She was put on a ventilator after her condition worsened on 6 August. She refused life support, which her doctors removed
90-531: A Catholic parish, and she was greatly influenced by Romano Guardini 's The Lord in this period. In 1957, Pfau travelled to Paris and joined the Daughters of the Heart of Mary, a Catholic order. She said, "When you receive such a calling, you cannot turn it down, for it is not you who has made the choice. ... God has chosen you for himself." The order later sent her to southern India ; however, in 1960,
120-614: A DTU (Diarrhea Treatment Unit). The Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics is divided into three units, having facilities of labour room and Operation Theatre. The Emergency department has several sections including an Operation Theatre and Surgical Intensive Care Unit, which are functional around the clock for use in case of mass disasters. On 19 August 2017, after the state funeral of German-born Pakistani nun Ruth Pfau , Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah ordered to rename The Civil Hospital, Karachi to Dr. Ruth K.M. Pfau Civil Hospital as an acknowledgment of "selfless services of
150-509: A fellow student and became involved in discussions in Mainz's philosophy and classical literature department. After completing her clinical examination, Pfau moved to Marburg to carry on her clinical studies. She was baptised as an Evangelical Protestant in 1951, before her conversion to Roman Catholicism in 1953. Pfau stated that she learned the "courage of being human" from Saint Thomas Aquinas through Josef Pieper 's writing. She joined
180-636: A medical college, being built at an airbase in Karachi, in her name. The college is now named as "Fazaia Ruth Pfau Medical College". Its first classes are expected to commence in December 2019. On 19 September 2017, Pfau's body lay in state at the Holy Family Hospital in Karachi ahead of the funeral. The state funeral for Pfau was held at Saint Patrick's Cathedral , in front of which the flags of Pakistan and Vatican City were flown at half mast, with Archbishop Joseph Coutts presiding over
210-566: A new state of Pakistan brought with it the need for a massive relief and rehabilitation efforts for hundreds of thousands of migrated people pouring in from India and addressing all their basic needs including health needs through a largely inadequate and unprepared system. A visitor's book maintained during the late fifties and early sixties indicates that Dr. Ruth K.M. Pfau Hospital was frequented by several dignitaries such as government ministers, ambassadors and eminent personalities visiting Pakistan. A 1961 entry by Lady Bird Johnson then spouse of
240-562: A visa issue meant she had to stay in Karachi . She travelled to various parts of Pakistan and across the border to Afghanistan to rescue patients who were abandoned by their families or locked in small rooms for a lifetime. Not all of us can prevent a war; but most of us can help ease sufferings—of the body and the soul. In 1960, aged 31, Pfau decided to dedicate the rest of her life to the people of Pakistan and their battle against leprosy outbreaks. While in Karachi, by chance she visited
270-695: Is remembered in Pakistan and abroad as a distinguished human being, and had been awarded many awards and medals. On 23 March 1989, Pfau received the Hilal-i-Pakistan award presented by the then-President of Pakistan Ghulam Ishaq Khan at the President House for her work with leprosy patients. Speaking at a function in Islamabad on 30 January 2000 to mark the 47th World Leprosy Day, the then-President Rafiq Tarar praised Pfau, who built up
300-498: Is well respected by Muslims in Pakistan who were the majority of patients at the Marie Adelaide Leprosy Centre . Saleem Maseh Amir says that she never talked about religion, yet "her faith, service, and love" were demonstrations of the spirit that inspired inter-religious dialogue. In 2018, Pfau's private residence in Karachi was converted into a museum to showcase some of her personal possessions. Pfau
330-530: The Requiem . The Pakistani flag was draped over her coffin and a 19-gun salute was offered by contingents of all three wings of the Pakistan Armed Forces . The ceremony was broadcast live on Pakistan Television . Pfau was reportedly the first Christian and first non-Muslim to have a state funeral in Pakistan. She was then buried at Gora Qabaristan , a Christian cemetery in Karachi. Pfau
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#1732765732995360-543: The Family Physicians". Dow Medical college is a large provider of physicians to Pakistan and also to the United States. It is the Pakistan medical school with the greatest amount of licensed physicians in the United States per the 2108 FSMB Survey with 3,232 licensed physicians. Its notable graduates include: Ruth Pfau Ruth Katherina Martha Pfau , FCM (9 September 1929 – 10 August 2017)
390-526: The Lepers' Colony behind McLeod Road (now I. I. Chundrigar Road ) near the City Railway Station . Here she decided that the care of patients would be her life's calling. She started medical treatment for the leprosy patients in a hut in this area. The Marie Adelaide Leprosy Centre was founded (which later branched out into tuberculosis and blindness prevention programmes) and social work for
420-616: The National Leprosy Control Program in Pakistan, for working not only for those afflicted with leprosy but also for those with tuberculosis . In 2006, Pfau was honoured as the 'Woman of the Year 2006' by City FM89 . On 14 August 2010, on the occasion of Pakistan's Independence Day, the then-President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari awarded Pfau the Nishan-i-Quaid-i-Azam for public service. She
450-631: The Vice President of the USA is particularly revealing: It reads: "This has been a visit both heart-breaking and rewarding. My hat is off to you women doctors!". The hospital includes the 500 bed Benazir Bhutto Accident, Emergency and Trauma Centre that includes a total of 18 operating rooms. The clinical departments of the hospital include Internal Medicine , Gynaecology and Obstetrics , Anesthesiology, Pediatrics , Cardiac Surgery, Oncology , Radiology , General Surgery, Neuro Surgery and Laboratory
480-782: The Viceroy of India visited the hospital in 1900 and unveiled a commemorative plaque to mark the platinum jubilee of Queen Victoria. The plaque is placed in the same spot, which was initially a nursing school and subsequently transformed into a state-of-the-art Burns Center in what is known till today as the Victoria Block or the Jubilee Block, while the entire building is heritage-protected by the provincial Department of Culture allowing for repairs and renovation but eschewing any structural change in its original design. The hospital continued to function efficiently until independence as
510-674: The country, she was awarded Pakistani citizenship in 1988. Due to her continued efforts, in 1996 the World Health Organization declared Pakistan one of the first countries in Asia to have controlled leprosy. According to the Dawn , the number of leprosy cases nationwide dropped significantly from 19,398 in the early 1980s to 531 in 2016. On 9 September 1999, the Archbishop of Karachi, Simeon Anthony Pereira , celebrated
540-566: The establishment of 157 leprosy clinics across Pakistan that treated over 56,780 people. Fazaia Ruth Pfau Medical College and Dr. Ruth Pfau Hospital are named after her in Karachi . She died in August 2017 and was buried with full state honours . Pfau was born on 9 September 1929 in Leipzig , Germany , to Lutheran Christian parents. She had four sisters and one brother. Her home was destroyed by bombing during World War II . Following
570-601: The hospital is proving all the services and facilities in one premise. The first state-of-the-art Burns unit has also been established in this hospital. The department of surgery comprises six general surgical units besides the specialties of neurosurgery , paediatric surgery, orthopedic surgery, urology, vascular surgery, maxillo-facial surgery and plastic surgery. The department of medicine comprises five general medicine units, 60 beds each. Other specialties includes Cardiology , Psychiatry , Dermatology , Neurology and Nephrology . The Department of Paediatrics has three units with
600-412: The late social servant". She was also widely known as Pakistan's Mother Teresa . Since 1960, Ruth Pfau had devoted her life to eradicating leprosy in Pakistan. This article about a hospital in Pakistan is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Dow Medical College Dow Medical College is a public medical school located in the city of Karachi , Sindh , Pakistan . It
630-891: The leprosy patients and their family members was started by Dr I K Gill. A leprosy clinic was bought in April 1963 and patients from all over Karachi, from elsewhere in Pakistan, and even from Afghanistan came for treatment. In 1979, she was appointed as the Federal Advisor on Leprosy to the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare of Government of Pakistan . Pfau went to distant areas of Pakistan where there were no medical facilities for leprosy patients. She collected donations in Germany and Pakistan and co-operated with hospitals in Rawalpindi and Karachi. In recognition of her service to
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#1732765732995660-640: The next day, according to her wish for "living a natural life". Pfau had been dealing with several health problems due to her advanced age, including kidney and heart disease , for which she had been undergoing treatment for several years. President Mamnoon Hussain issued the statement: "Dr Pfau’s services to end leprosy in Pakistan cannot be forgotten. She left her homeland and made Pakistan her home to serve humanity. The Pakistani nation salutes Dr Pfau and her great tradition to serve humanity will be continued." Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said: "Dr Ruth Pfau may have been born in Germany, [but] her heart
690-626: The one hand, and the diamond jubilee of Queen Victoria on the other. The pandemic would kill at least an estimated 10 million people in India alone over a period of 20 years. It is important to mention the status of Karachi at that time. Karachi was not the business center. Towards the close of the nineteenth century, Karachi emerged as the cleanest city towards this side of the Indus River , with an estimated population of 105,000 which continued to grow in view of its strategic importance. Lord Curzon
720-517: The post-war Soviet occupation of East Germany she moved to West Germany along with her family, and chose medicine as her future career. During the 1950s, she studied medicine at the University of Mainz . During this period Pfau frequently met a Dutch Christian woman who was a concentration camp survivor and was dedicating her life to "preaching love and forgiveness". After "her life-changing experience", Pfau left "a romantic association" with
750-612: The principal hospital of Karachi and received tremendous impetus after 1945 when the then Governor of Sindh Sir Hugh Dow transferred the medical school provisionally recognized by the Bombay University from Hyderabad to Karachi and laid the foundation of the Dow Medical College in its present location on 10 December 1945, with the Dr. Ruth K.M. Pfau Hospital attached to it as a teaching hospital. The creation of
780-480: Was a German–Pakistani Catholic Christian religious sister and physician who was a member of the "Society of the Daughters of the Heart of Mary". She emigrated from Germany in 1961 and devoted more than 55 years of her life to fighting leprosy in Pakistan. Pfau was honoured with Hilal-e-Pakistan , Hilal-i-Imtiaz , Nishan-i-Quaid-i-Azam , and the Sitara-i-Quaid-i-Azam awards. Pfau contributed to
810-528: Was always in Pakistan." He further added that, "she came here at the dawn of a young nation looking to make lives better for those afflicted by disease and in doing so found herself a home. We will remember her for her courage, her loyalty, her service to the eradication of leprosy and most of all her patriotism." He also announced that a state funeral would be held for her. Chief of Army Staff Qamar Bajwa referred to Pfau as an "ambassador of humanity". Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman named
840-478: Was founded in 1945 and named after British civil servant Sir Hugh Dow , Governor of Sindh. In 2003, it became a constituent college of the newly formed Dow University of Health Sciences . The Dow Medical College was established in Hyderabad in the 1945. It was relocated to Karachi by Sir Hugh Dow, governor of Sindh. Until 1947, it was an affiliate of University of Bombay. After the independence of India , it
870-606: Was hailed as Pakistan's "Mother Teresa" after her work towards helping people displaced by the 2010 Pakistan floods . In 2015, Pfau was awarded the Staufer Medal, the highest award of the German state of Baden-Württemberg . On 19 August 2017, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah announced renaming of the Civil Hospital Karachi to Dr Ruth Pfau Hospital as an acknowledgment of "selfless services of
900-537: Was under the University of Sindh. After the University of Karachi was founded, it became its affiliate. It was in 2003 when the Dow University of Health Sciences was established as an independent institution, with Dow Medical College and two other colleges being put under its umbrella. Dow University of Health Sciences launched its web-based Continuing Medical Education Program named the "e-CME Program for
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