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In
an intermittent series we focus on regional
luminaries who have shown leadership,
contributed to the discipline, have improved
lives of people in the region and who
have worked for the advance of excellence
in medical knowledge and in the practice
of medicine.
Excellence and leadership is not just
achieving academic and professional goals,
it is the application of knowledge, learned
and innate, within an empathic approach
that strives to deliver that excellence
to all who need it.
Indeed these are the traits and aims of
all good family doctors.
Sometimes however we come across those
who are a little more focused on these
higher ideals, and who carry them through
all aspects of their lives; those people
who are a little humbler, a little better,
a little more consistent, and a little
more enlightened in approach than the
rest of us.
It is for this reason I have chosen to
feature, in this issue of MEJFM, no, to
celebrate, one of the region’s great
real achievers, Professor Waris Qidwai
of Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.
During 2014 I learnt of various awards
given to Prof Qidwai, read various of
his excellent papers and have had the
ongoing opportunity to work on various
collaborations with Professor Qidwai under
the many ‘hats’ he wears.
Important projects, I have well found
myself, do not go to the lowest bidder,
or those seeking the glory, they go to
those who are prepared to do the real
work, and who approach that work with
the right heart and mind; those who focus
on outcomes, not just completing the process.Of
note, during the early months of 2015
Professor Qidwai was awarded an Appreciation
Certificate for Excellence in Family Medicine
by College of Family Medicine, Pakistan
at a reception held at National Institute
of Child Health, Karachi on January 18,
January 2015.Earlier in 2014 Professor
Qidwai gave an Invited presentation, at
the Inauguration session, World Health
Organization (WHO) sponsored regional
consultation meeting on “Strengthening
service provision through Family Practice
approach: Towards Universal Health Coverage
in Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR)”,
held at Cairo in November 2014. Topic:
“Current Status of Family Medicine
Education and Training in Eastern Mediterranean
Region”.
In 2014 he completed a survey and prepared
a report in Collaboration with World Health
Organization (WHO) and World Organization
of Family Doctors (WONCA) titled, “Current
Status of Family Medicine Education and
Training in Eastern Mediterranean Region”
and he also served as Technical Expert
on a World Health Organization (WHO) project
titled, “Integration of Non-Communicable
diseases into Primary Health Care: A snapshot
from Eastern Mediterranean Region”.On
May 15, 2015 he will receive his FRCGP(Int)
from the Royal College of General Practitioners,
UK.
I
have attached Professor Qidwai’s
CV (click
here for a copy) which
lists many more examples of his personal
contribution to global family medicine
and the many positions under which he
contributes to a wide variety of human
endeavours.
I
follow with some photographs celebrating
the many aspects Professor Qidwai’s
career, and life with family, friends,
colleagues and students.
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