How a chance meeting changed life of a UK doctor – for Pakistan’s benefit

One of Britain’s senior most and respected Consultant Paediatrician, Professor Abdul Rashid Gatrad OBE has called on the Pakistan government to empower, with vocational training, the most under-privileged children, aligning this to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

As CEO of Midland International Trust (MIAT), Professor Abdul Rashid Gatrad has raised over £3 million for various health-related development projects around the world. He has built, with his colleagues, a state-ofthe-art cleft hospital in Pakistan, Gujarat. The project was completed so professionally and was so impactful that ITV presented a 15-minute documentary on it. All services including operations are provided free, funded by mainly Muslim and Pakistani donors in the West Midlands.

The Professor of Paediatrics and Child Health at three universities – University of Birmingham, Universities of Kentucky and Wolverhampton – was awarded with the OBE from the Queen in 2002 for services to ethnic minority children in the Midlands and in 2014 was made deputy Lieutenant to Her Majesty the Queen for his services. In the same year he was made Freeman of the Borough of Walsall for halving the death rate in new-born babies and for his part in the research into the Hepatitis Vaccine that was subsequently rolled out globally.

Born originally in India but working in Pakistan, in 2003 Prof Gatrad met Mr Khwaja Mohammed Aslam, a Pakistani bus driver and a businessman, who was the chairman of Midland International Aid Trust UK (MIAT). He invited him in 2005 to be the CEO. Since then, the charity has made a huge difference to the lives of hundreds of thousands around the world – particularly children. At the time MIAT only had £20,000 of working capital and Pakistan was the only country where humanitarian aid was provided. Since then, Rashid has sacrificed time, effort, energy and money to make MIAT truly global – now in over 20 countries.

Professor Abdul Rashid Gatrad, who started as postman before becoming a doctor in 1971, largely financed through MIAT this- state of the art 3 storey hospital which houses, audiology, speech therapy, dental services 2 wards and 2 operating theatres. The hospital is supported by 4 doctors running round the clock operations and providing free medical aid to patients of the area, including those who travel from far and wide.

The hospital grounds have playing facilities. Then it was in 2016 when during a visit to Gujarat that he met a female teenage street beggar on crutches. She had clubbed feet that were bare and bleeding. This led to Professor Rashid Gatrad setting up the clubfoot centre where now hundreds are being treated from birth – avoiding operations when older.