Civil Hospital Karachi renamed after Dr Ruth Pfau

In recognition of the legendary Dr Ruth Pfau, Sindh’s chief minister announced on Saturday that the Civil Hospital Karachi had been renamed after her.

After attending the state funeral of Dr Ruth, CM Syed Murad Ali Shah directed Chief Secretary Rizwan Memon to issue a notification for renaming the Civil Hospital.

“She devoted her entire life to fighting against leprosy in the country, particularly in Sindh, and founded a dedicated hospital in the city,” said Shah. “It is now our responsibility to rename one of our largest hospitals after her.”

He also directed the provincial health department to replace the name board of the Civil Hospital, change the letterheads, seals and make other relevant alterations.

The chief executive earlier attended the final rites of Dr Ruth at the St Patrick’s Cathedral as well as her state funeral at the Christian Cemetery and laid a floral wreath on her grave.

K-Electric also paid tributes to Dr Ruth, adds News Desk. A spokesperson for the city’s power utility said: “KE had the honour of working with Dr Ruth in her capacity as the founder of the Marie Adelaide Leprosy Centre (MALC), which is the electric company’s first social investment programme partner.”

The statement said that KE paid tribute to Dr Ruth’s untiring and selfless devotion towards humanitarian work and that she would always be remembered as the pinnacle of empathy and dedication. Dr Ruth was also the recipient of KE’s Pride of Karachi award among numerous other accolades she had received for her services.

“The power company’s partnership with the MALC goes beyond just the provision of free electricity to the centre. Over the years the leading leprosy centre also participated in KE’s customer facilitation camps providing free health care.”

Earlier in the day, soldiers carried the flag-draped coffin of Dr Ruth to a state funeral where she was honoured after devoting her life to eradicating leprosy in the country, adds Reuters. Widely known as Pakistan’s Mother Teresa, she died last week at age 87. She was buried in her adopted homeland.

Dr Ruth had been living in Pakistan since 1960, and her leprosy centre in Karachi was Pakistan’s first hospital dedicated to treating the disease. She later opened treatment centres across the country.

“It is a big loss to this hospital and to humanity,” said Yasmeen Morris, a staff member at the centre. “It is very hard to find a person like her in today’s era.”

Yasmeen said Dr Ruth led a very simple life and loved humanity. “In 1996 the World Health Organisation declared that leprosy had been controlled in Pakistan, which led Dr Ruth to the more challenging task of eliminating the disease.”