Illustrious Pakistani doctor inducted into Medical Hall of Fame

Dr S Amjad Hussain from Peshawar was recognised for inventing two surgical devices and a service spanning 40 years.

WASHINGTON: Illustrious Pakistani doctor S Amjad Hussain, has been inducted into the Medical Mission Hall in Toledo, Ohio.

Amjad Hussain is one of 34 individuals from around the world who are now members of the Medical Mission Hall of Fame. The MMHOF was created in 2004 to honor those individuals and organisations who have made significant and substantial contributions to advancing the medical well-being of people throughout the world.

Last year Dr Sania Nishtar, Pakistan's first female cardiologist and founder of the health policy organisation, Heartfile, which is recognised as a model for replication in developing nations, was inducted into the hall of fame.

A native of Peshawar, Dr Hussain has participated in medical and teaching missions for more than 40 years. He has traveled to the Dominican Republic, China, Libya, India and Pakistan, where he has taught a legion of medical students and doctors and has donated tons of supplies and equipment. Professor emeritus of thoracic cardiovascular surgery at the University of Toledo, he is a graduate of Khyber Medical College in Peshawar.

Proclaimed by the Journal of Islamic Medical Association to be a renaissance Muslim, the writer, photographer and explorer has treated those in need in foreign countries while making surgical and travel arrangements for complex procedures to be performed in Toledo.

A member of the University of Toledo Board of Trustees, Dr Hussain has a professorship in thoracic and cardiovascular surgery named in his honor and also a visiting professorship in the history of medicine at the University.

The inventor of two surgical devices - the pleuro-peritoneal shunt and a special endotracheal tube to supply oxygen during fiberoptic broncchoscopy in awake patients - he was recognised by the Khyber Medical College with its first lifetime achievement award during its golden jubilee celebration in 2005.

Dr Hussain is the author of seven Urdu and six English books on diverse subjects including religion, culture, history and international relations.

Among the other two honorees, Dr Harvey Doorenbos devoted 35 years of his life to medical missionary work, 10 years in the Sultanate of Oman and 25 years in Ethiopia. Dr Lincoln Nelson performed surgeries for 60 years and helped to start four hospitals in the Philippines.