Karachi:
Eight years after her passing, the legacy of Dr. Ruth Pfau-The German-born doctor who dedicated his life to eradicating leprosy in Pakistan-with to inspire and serve thousands of nationwide.
Known as Pakistan’s “Mother Teresa”, dedicated Dr. PFAU more than five decades for the care of those that society was cut off. Born on September 9, 1929 in Leipzig, Germany, she lived through World War II before moving to West Germany to study medicine at the University of Mainz. In 1960, on her way to India, she was stranded in Karachi due to visa complications. The situation of leprosy patients she met here changed the course of her life.
In 1963, she established Pakistan’s first leverage treatment center on McLod Road in Karachi, which developed into the Marie Adelaide Leprosy Center (MALC). Today, Malc operates 157 centers nationwide and offers treatment to more than 57,000 patients. Over the years, its services have been expanded to mothers and children’s health, tuberculosis care and support for visual impaired and physically challenged.
Colleagues remember that Dr. PFAU’s compassion extended beyond medical treatment. She would personally visit remote areas, sit and eat with lepers and even inspect their kitchens to understand their financial conditions and often arrange financial help for housing or small businesses. “She never felt repulsive,” Malc Ceo Maron Lobo said, remembering how Dr. PFAU would share tea and biscuits with the same hands that had dressed infected wounds.
Her humility was legendary. She traveled in vans, went to the church and avoided official protocol. She was on the front lines during the 2005 earthquake, flooding in 2010 and drought help efforts in Balochistan. Her humanitarian work served her several national honors, including Hilal-E-Pakistan and Hilal-E-Imtiaz. Germany awarded her the Bambi award in 2012, where she reminded the audience: “At this moment it is midnight in Pakistan and many children will sleep hungry. Your world is not my world.”
Dr. PFAU died on August 10, 2017 after a long-term illness and became the first non-Muslim woman in Pakistan, who was buried with the State Honor. Karachi’s civil hospital now bears its name and her former residence has been transformed into a museum.
For the patients she embraced when no one else wanted to, and for the nation she chose as at home, Dr. Ruth PFAU A lighthouse for selfless service – a legacy that lives well beyond her years.
