The grandfather of paediatrics

AS I waited outside a children’s ward at the Central Hospital, I could hear an elderly man talking to a child. It seemed the child was talking to an old friend. There he was – Professor Mohammad Rafi Khan, widely known as MR Khan. A living legend in the world of paediatrics but to the little child, he was just a friend – loving and loveable.
   Professor Khan was born at village Rasulpur in Satkhira on August 1, 1928. His father, Late Al-hajj Abdul Bari Khan was renowned for voluntary social services. Most of Professor Khan’s childhood was spent in his village. He has fond memories of his childhood and believes such a pleasant childhood has been the driving force behind his success. He attended the local school up to his matriculation and made many friends. He spent most of his time on sports and studied very little.
   ‘I remember, as a child I used to spend most of my time playing, especially swimming in the pond in front of our house. It was a small village and I had lots of friends, so I spent a lot of time playing football with my friends. Around dawn, my mother would wake me up and make me study for a little while. Usually that was enough; I did not study for the rest of the day. It was one of the most pleasant and carefree times of my life,’ Professor Khan recalls.
   Still, his result in the matriculation examination was outstanding and he was selected to study at the prestigious Presidency College in Calcutta (Kolkata). In those days, the cream of the crop studied at Presidency.
   It was a big step in life for him and he was determined to make the most of it. Towards the end of his college, came the turning point in his life when he heard of the renowned Mohsin scholarship. His opportunity to study medicine had come.
   ‘At that time, the Mohsin Scholarship was provided to outstanding students for entry into Calcutta Medical College. At Presidency, my chemistry teacher was the famous Kudrat-e-Khoda and he called me into his room to enquire about me future plans. I told him about my plans to apply for the Mohsin scholarship and he encouraged me. His encouragement provided the motivation for me to pursue the scholarship,’ says Professor Khan.
   He went on to secure the scholarship and completed his MBBS from Calcutta Medical College in 1952. Professor Khan says his father’s desire for him to become a doctor was the main reason behind his choice of the profession.
   Back then, Mohammed Ali Bogra was the health minister. Mohammed Ali once told him that he would have a bright future in medicine. ‘One cannot just ignore such a strong advice from a great man like Mohammed Ali Bogra,’ Professor Khan says. ‘Ever since I was a little boy, I wanted to be a doctor. I have three brothers and my father had picked a profession for each of us the day we were born. My eldest brother was an engineer and thus my father decided that I should become a doctor. Therefore, completing my MBBS was one of the most fulfilling moments of my life.’
   Professor Khan believes his stay in Calcutta greatly shaped his personality. ‘Calcutta was a great city and one could not help but be enlightened while living in that city,’ he says. After classes, he would spend time at the ‘jomjomat adda’ in the offices of the legendary Azad newspaper. Professor Khan recalls fondly his meetings with such great personalities as Abdul Hakim and poet Nazrul Islam and how they helped shape his mindset.
   He says he has also had the privilege of seeing the rise of many future leaders. One day he was walking through the campus and noticed that a young man was standing under a tree and making a fiery speech. A small crowd had gathered and he was intrigued. He joined the crowd and was immediately mesmerised by the fine oratory skills of the young man. ‘The young man was the former prime minister of Bengal, Jyoti Basu. Even at that young age, he had a charismatic presence,’ Professor Khan recalls.
   After completing his MBBS, Professor Khan got his post graduate degrees viz. DTM&M (Edinburgh, 1957), DCH (London, 1957), MRCP (Edinburgh, 1962). After completing post-graduate studies, he joined Dhaka Medical College in 1963 as an associate professor of medicine. In 1964 he joined the paediatrics department at Rajshahi University as an associate professor. This was another major turning point in his life as well as the field of paediatric in Bangladesh.
   At first, Professor Khan was greatly discouraged by his colleagues at the DMC. ‘I remember my colleagues were very disappointed in my decision to head the paediatric ward in Rajshahi Medical College. ‘They kept saying I had a bright future ahead of me in medicine and I could do great things in the field. They would say I was wasting my potential and paediatrics was a hopeless field. Somehow these comments reinforced my determination to prove them wrong,’ he says.
   He did prove them wrong. When he arrived in Rajshahi in 1964, the paediatric ward would be empty most of the time, as people did not trust paediatricians. Professor Khan was able to dispel the mistrust in the most dramatic fashion. The younger brother of eminent singer Nadira Begum was very sick and her family had tried extensive homeopathic treatment to cure him.
   After everything had failed, the family brought the child to him as a last-ditch attempt and he was able to cure the child within a few days. The word quickly spread around town about the ward and patients in large numbers started streaming in.
   At the time, there were only two paediatric specialists in the country and one of them had retired. After spending five years in Rajshahi, in 1969, Professor Khan returned to Dhaka Medical College as an associate professor. He had big plans and wanted to bring about a massive change in paediatrics. The most important deterrent to paediatrics, Professor Khan had learned from his experience in Rajshahi, was the lack of skilled human resources.
   ‘During my stay in Rajshahi, I saw that it was difficult to run a paediatric ward as we did not have skilled doctors. I realised the best way to bring about a change was to develop the required manpower. Thus, I started a post-graduate programme in paediatrics at the DMC and it was the first programme of its kind in the history of Bangladesh. A large majority of all the big names in paediatrics in Bangladesh today have graduated from the programme. After that paediatrics started to take off and gain recognition in mainstream society,’ Professor Khan says.
   He is currently a senior visiting professor at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Diseases and Research, Bangladesh. He retired from public service in August 1988 as professor of Paediatrics at the Institute of Post-Graduate Medicine and Research. During his tenure, Professor Khan served in many important positions. He was professor and chairman at the Institute of Child Health and Shishu Hospital. He was also vice-chairman, Jatiya Samaj Kalyan Parishad of the Ministry of Social Welfare and chairman of the polio eradication certification committee.
   It was Professor Khan who first introduced vaccine against polio, diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus in Bangladesh in January 1965. He has also established a number of educational institutes, including the Women’s Medical College in Uttara, the first of its kind in Bangladesh. Professor Khan has also founded Nibedita Nursing Home and Central Hospital, which is one of the largest and most modern hospitals in the private sector.
   Nowadays he spends most of his time on social welfare. He is the founder of a number of voluntary social development organisations such as Shishu Sasthya Foundation and the Institute of Child Health and Shishu Hospital in Mirpur. He has also founded two children’s hospitals in Satkhira and Jessore alongside a vocational training centre.
   ‘So far, three lakh women and children have benefited from the SSF. My parents heavily invested in social welfare programmes and I picked it up from them. I feel it is a duty of utmost importance for me to serve the needy as best as I can,’ he says.
   The key to success for any man is hard work, he believes. ‘No matter how talented a person is that talent must be nurtured through hard work to do great things.’
   Professor Khan admits that he is human and thus has weaknesses. One of his weaknesses, he says, is that he trusts people very easily. ‘I think I am a bit naďve in dealing with people and I place too much trust in people without truly looking at their character. Thus people were able to deceive me very easily. This quality used to irritate me a lot before but nowadays I have come to terms with it.’
   An avid reader, he loves to read biographies of famous people. He finds inspiration in the biographies of great people and says there is a lot to learn about life itself from other people’s lives. ‘I am also a big fan of the features sections of newspapers. For some reason I have always found them very interesting. I also read a lot of books related to paediatrics; it is very important to be abreast of the latest literature.’
   Professor Khan is also a connoisseur of theatre and music. In his youth, he used to be a member of a theatre group in Satkhira and played Nawab Sirajuddowla and other lead roles. He frequently visits the local theatres and is very proud of the kind of work this generation of theatre artists are producing. ‘I was very active in the art scene in Calcutta and I have seen some epics like Nawab Sirajuddowla on stage at some of the prestigious theatre halls at that time. I was very active in organisation of music and dance performances at our college in Calcutta. I was also fortunate enough to have attended numerous shows of the master magician PC Sarker while in Calcutta.’
   Any plan for retirement? He laughs. ‘I have been trying to stop practising medicine for the past ten years. But my patients won’t let me. They crowd at my house and won’t go away unless I treat them. Some of the parents who bring in their children for treatment were once my patients. It is this love from my patients that has been the greatest achievement of my life.’
   Adnan Khandker