Dr. Ruth Katherina Martha Pfau, known as “Pakistan’s Mother Teresa” is a symbol of selflessness and courage. Mother Teresa was a Nobel Prize Winner who dedicated her life to caring for the destitute and dying in the slums of Calcutta. Teresa founded a religious organization – the Missionaries of Charity while aimed at helping the poor. She helped people irrespective of their color, age, or sex and even helped patients with HIV/AIDS at the time when they were discriminated. Like Teresa, Dr. Ruth Pfau devoted more than 50 years of her life-fighting leprosy in Pakistan. Due to her contribution to the cause, 157 leprosy clinics were established in Pakistan which treated over 50,000 people. Due to her tireless efforts, Pakistan was declared Leprosy free by the World Health Organization in 1996.
Dr. Ruth Katharina Martha Pfau was born in Leipzig, Germany. Dr. Pfau’s city was bombed during the Second World War (1939- 1945) and her home was destroyed. In the 1950s, she completed her graduation in medicine from the universities of Mainz and Marburg. On 8th March 1960, she left her native country, and on her way to India, she stopped in Karachi due to visa problems where she got to know about leprosy work. On her first visit, she was so moved to see the condition of patients affected by Leprosy that she decided to stay there and help the affected patients. After she acquired her training from South India in 1961, in the management of Leprosy, she returned to Karachi and expanded the Leprosy Control Programme in cooperation with the Marie Adelaide Leprosy Center (MALC). Dr. Ruth in collaboration with a Pakistani dermatologist, Dr. Zarina Fazelbhoy initiated a training program for the paramedical workers which she expanded with help of different Provincial Governments and established a network of treatment and control units. In 1988, Dr. Ruth was awarded Pakistani Citizenship. In 1989, she visited Afghanistan and worked for patients suffering from leprosy.
Dr. Ruth is the author of four books in German about her work in Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan, where she first went in 1984. One of these books, ‘To Light a Candle’ was translated into English in 1987. Later on, Dr. Ruth was appointed as the Federal Advisor on Leprosy to the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in the Government of Pakistan.
Dr. Ruth said and believed that “Love will always have the last word” which is reflected in her contribution. She also received civil awards from the Government of Pakistan, She was awarded Nishan-e-Quaid-i-Azam for her public service, Hilal-e-Imtiaz, and Hilal-i-Pakistan. She is recognized in Pakistan and abroad as a distinguished human being and had been awarded many awards and medals including the Staufer Medal, the highest award of the German state of Baden-Württemberg.
. In 2006, she gave over to her successor, the Chief Executive Officer of MALC.
She passed away on 10th August 2017 at the Aga Khan University Hospital in Karachi after being admitted there due to respiratory problems. On 19 August 2017, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah announced the renaming of the Civil Hospital Karachi to Dr. Ruth Pfau Hospital as an acknowledgment of “selfless services of the late social servant”.
Ramsha Saghir is a Clinical Psychologist by profession. She is an Intersectional Feminist and writes on gender equality, societal issues and mental health.
