Elegy for Professor Dr Faisal Masood

He came to our place, as if to say goodbye, on August 15, 2019 and lingered on till the morning turned into afternoon. It was an unusually animated session – he spoke about things that mattered to him. From his aging and frail parents, who he so tenderly attended; to his daughters who he so admired and felt pride in; to his limitless quest for learning and knowledge; to his involvement in humanity and to his first and last passion – the practice of clinical medicine. Our family sat in rapt attention – he was a physician and friend to us. But not an ordinary one – he was part of the family.

I was acutely aware how precious his time was – each minute could be lifeline for a patient. It was his second visit in five days, each time spending over two hours. He would only take coffee, freshly brewed and without milk, and ask for more. I insisted that a piece of black chocolate with coffee would do him no harm. He gingerly took it. The many fried eatables on the table did not even qualify his glance. Such were his spartan habits. I escorted him to the car. He asked me to settle in Lahore; close to him in Model Town. We embraced and he left.

It was spring of 2011. A silver haired man with sense of urgency came to my office in Health Department. There was a hint of exasperation – the Services Institute of Medical Sciences (SIMS), that he had so painstakingly developed, was not being commissioned for want of funds. He wanted it done. And I knew it must be done. The funds were released and he completed the project in a few weeks. The Institute became functional. He took me to tour his creation and showed it like the marvel of a child. His enthusiasm and excitement knew no bounds.

The health sector is a sea and I was looking for an anchor. Very soon I realized the extraordinary faculties of the teacher of teachers. He was intuitively a physician – one who could understand the disease in context of patient, one who could treat the person rather then the ailment. Nothing escaped his attention to detail or his heightened sensation to detect the abnormal. He was gifted to heal – and destined to lead. And his heart and soul was in treating patients. He had to be the powerhouse in the health sector, I understood.

Dengue fever struck Lahore with vengeance in August 2011. It was later termed as the largest dengue epidemic in the world. Every tenth citizen of Lahore was affected. There were deaths. It was scary and seemed liked a plague. There was very little understanding of the disease which was quite alien to the region – it is rampant in the tropics though. Punjab Government deployed all resources to ‘Combat Dengue’. I looked around. Who could spearhead the enormous task? The Sri Lankans, who knew the disease well, came to our rescue. Their formidable team got into action soon after landing and held our hand. But for them, we would have taken time to respond appropriately. They discovered a wizard amongst us. He would lead the campaign from our side.

It was an extraordinary epidemic – in morbidity and mortality. Every day was a huge challenge – the disease and the deaths. The need for a formidable institutional response was evident. The Dengue Expert Advisory Group (DEAG) was born. And the wizard had to lead it. It turned to be the dynamo for the ‘Combat Dengue’ campaign and its long-term prevention. Preventive measures were being taken while the epidemic was engulfing. Thousands would have died had it not been for those few men (and women) who were at the vanguard of this campaign. And he led it with intellectual and professional rigour – the like of which is seldom seen or experienced. He was the ‘Dengue Warrior’.

The epidemic subsided with onset of winters – but our vigilance did not. There was a weekly meeting of DEAG. We looked at the graphs co-relating the incidence of disease and the vector (mosquito). The two are inextricably linked – there could be no disease without the mosquito. Every dengue case discovered must lead to detection of mosquito and larvae. But something bizarre was happening in December of 2011. There was a surge in Dengue cases but the vector was not detected. Most unusual. The weekly DEAG meeting would debate but there was no explanation. Why were Dengue cases increasing and there was no evidence of the mosquito? I asked everyone in DEAG – Why? There was no plausible answer. I asked the wizard to investigate.

Professor Dr. Azhar, Chief Executive, Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC), called me on that cold December evening. He had bad news. The spate of deaths in various hospitals in Lahore due to Dengue are not Dengue. It was a ruse. Shocking. He passed on the phone to the wizard who gave me the startling news – the deaths are not due to Dengue. These are because of drug reaction – drugs that were dispensed by PIC. I asked about the evidence. He had looked at all the patients in various hospitals of Lahore – their common denominator was cardiac disease and taking medicines from PIC. Amazing deduction but a catastrophic one!!

The discovery was stunning. Even developed societies can’t detect drug reaction at such fast pace. He did it. His exceptional scientific mind got him there. It was a drug reaction. We acted fast and recalled medicines already delivered. It was no mean task. The patients were over 45000 and all over Punjab and some in the other provinces. All resources were mobilized. The pack of six different medicines had to be forfeited. He scrupulously zeroed in on the offending medicine. Samples were sent to European labs. The culprit was identified –it was a medicine that got adulterated. Thousands got saved due to his finding. He guided us to put in a regime that would save lives.

‘For many are called, but few are chosen’ – he was indeed chosen. His touch of healing was a divine gift. A clinician who belonged to rare and dwindling league, a public health believer who lobbied for prevention, a teacher who was looking for takers of knowledge, a friend who would indulge you, and a citizen who cared. And most of all a human being who was involved with his people and remained in them. He quietly passed away on August 16, 2019 without even the slightest of indication - at the pinnacle of his professional excellence and public acclaim, Vice Chancellor et al, peacefully. Thank you so very much for being our friend and spending two hours of your last twenty hours with us. We would remain in perpetual debt. Thank you too for being the healer of the multitude. Their supplications would exalt your status in heavens. Goodbye, my friend, Professor Dr. Faisal Masood. May your soul rest in peace.

The writer is Planning Commission deputy chairman and former Punjab health secretary.