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The Lone Doctor
When Dr. Mohammad Shafi Memon graduated from Liaquat Medical College (LMC), Jamshoro, Sindh on August 10, 1967, his father Hamid Ali Memon, a hakeem by profession, summoned him to his room.
“My father asked me to perform ablution and come along with the Holy Qur'an,” recalls Dr. Shafi Memon. “He asked me to take oath on the Holy Qur'an never to take bribe, never issue a fake certificate in medico-legal cases, never charge money for performing post-mortem, always respect community elders and serve the inhabitants of Diplo,” Dr. Memon told TSI. His father is now dead. In the meanwhile, almost every doctor from Diplo has migrated to greener pastures. But Dr. Memon still remembers his oath. He is the lone doctor in Diplo taluka, in district Tharparkar and caters to more than 70 per cent of the patients in the area. His face glows and he looks much younger than his years as he narrates his story.
Memon says people hailing from the district headquarter Diplo have been traditionally well off. They were traders and businessmen. Amazingly, Diplo headquarter has 100 per cent literacy rate.
“Once a teacher in Diplo gave 110 marks out of 100 to a student,” Memon reminisces. “When asked how this could be possible, the teacher said that the student earned 100 marks on merit while he was given 10 marks out of admiration.”
He recalls that during the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war, almost every Muslim migrated from Diplo. “Only four Muslims stayed in Diplo but there was never a gap in prayer call from the local mosque,” he says. “There were only 1200 Rangers defending Diplo and an army major wrote me a letter that I should immediately leave Diplo,” he recalls. “During the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war everybody left Diplo.”
Memon recalls that the first person who acquired education in Diplo was Sain Haji Abu Talib, father of Professor Saleh Memon. Talib was the first teacher from Diplo and was paid five rupees a month as his salary. Today, about 200,000 people inhabit the taluka Diplo and about 70 per cent patients from the surrounding areas of its headquarter visit Memon when they are ill. “Tuberculosis is very common in Tharparkar,” says Memon. “People are also lacking in health education.”
After graduation, Memon got his first posting in district Sanghar in Sindh where he worked for about three years. His father passed away on Sept 24, 1971. In November that year Memon shifted to Diplo. After his retirement in Grade 20 from Taluka Hospital Diplo, he is serving patients in accordance with his father’s wish. He also treats women since all female doctors hailing from Diplo prefer to have relatively lucrative jobs outside Diplo.
“Prof Saleh Memon, who was also personal physician to President Ziaul Haq and the King of Saudia Arabia, was the first doctor from Diplo. He died two years ago,” says Memon.
During the month of Ramadan Memon write letters to all his acquaintances to collect donations. “Snake bite is very common in Tharparkar and I have never been short of anti-venom vaccine,” he says with a sense of pride.
“During the last 40 years I have performed only seven post-mortems, four pertaining to murder while three were suicide cases,” he says indicating extremely low crime rate in Tharparkar where 40 per cent population comprises of Hindus and schedule castes.
A visit to two villages in taluka Diplo was equally fascinating. Moolan, 35, a woman in Khari Bheel village in taluka Diplo, some 48 kilometre from Tharparkar’s district headquarter Mithi, has eight children. She works in the fields and makes handmade rillis (hand-made colourful bed sheets) at home besides doing embroidery work. “A new rilli costs me 1,000 rupees. I don’t sell them. I make them for my daughters’ dowry,” she says.
Her husband Anopo, 37, has acquired education till Intermediate from Diplo and is a bookkeeper at Union Council-based Poverty Reduction Programme. Interestingly he has been nominated for this job by women’s voluntary organisation called Sojhro. He is also involved in construction work as a contractor. The Poverty Reduction Programme is being run with the support of a non-governmental organisation, Thardeep Rural Support Programme (TRDP).
Anopo told TSI that eight out of the 70 families of the small village have availed a loan of 12,000 rupees each as their income generation activity and purchased goats.
“I availed a loan of 12,000 rupees and bought three goats. I am sure I will benefit from the deal. They will give birth to new ones and I will be able to give milk to my children,” says Seeji. She has already paid two installments of her loan.
TRDP through funding from Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund has installed solar panel in the village that has been a boon for the impoverished people. Freshwater is available in the village at a depth of 120 feet since it is near the coastal area.
Anopo’s daughter Teejan studies in grade II and goes to school all by herself that is about three kilometre away. “Give us a school, here” pleads Anopo.
Jey Ram, 27, a young man from Meghwar community lives in Bitri village, about 60 km from Tharparkar’s district headquarter, Mithi. He passed his high school examination from Naukot and Intermediate from Degree College Tando Jam. Unlike the Bheel community that migrates to barrage areas during drought and harvesting, people from the Meghwar community do not migrate.
“I worked for seven years in a garment factory in Karachi and earned about 7,000 rupees a month,” says Jey Ram. “Then I got a job at National Commission for Human Development in my village. Here I am paid 3,000 rupees but I enjoy living with my family. I make 800 rupees every month through stitching clothes. I also work in my field and look after my cattle. When there are rains I fetch 10,000 to 12,000 rupees in a season through my Guar and Bajra field,” says Ram.
“The problem of availability of fresh water has been solved,” he continues. “Thardeep has given us a hand pump and a well. We also have a rain water harvesting pond,” he says.
But many problems persist in the village. “The road is seven kilometre away from here. If a snake bites somebody, the person has to be carried on shoulders. There are lots of snake biting cases in our village,” says Kanoon, 40, who works in a field and is also involved in household chores such as cooking.
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The Lone Doctor
When Dr. Mohammad Shafi Memon graduated from Liaquat Medical College (LMC), Jamshoro, Sindh on August 10, 1967, his father Hamid Ali Memon, a hakeem by profession, summoned him to his room.
“My father asked me to perform ablution and come along with the Holy Qur'an,” recalls Dr. Shafi Memon. “He asked me to take oath on the Holy Qur'an never to take bribe, never issue a fake certificate in medico-legal cases, never charge money for performing post-mortem, always respect community elders and serve the inhabitants of Diplo,” Dr. Memon told TSI. His father is now dead. In the meanwhile, almost every doctor from Diplo has migrated to greener pastures. But Dr. Memon still remembers his oath. He is the lone doctor in Diplo taluka, in district Tharparkar and caters to more than 70 per cent of the patients in the area. His face glows and he looks much younger than his years as he narrates his story.
Memon says people hailing from the district headquarter Diplo have been traditionally well off. They were traders and businessmen. Amazingly, Diplo headquarter has 100 per cent literacy rate.
“Once a teacher in Diplo gave 110 marks out of 100 to a student,” Memon reminisces. “When asked how this could be possible, the teacher said that the student earned 100 marks on merit while he was given 10 marks out of admiration.”
He recalls that during the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war, almost every Muslim migrated from Diplo. “Only four Muslims stayed in Diplo but there was never a gap in prayer call from the local mosque,” he says. “There were only 1200 Rangers defending Diplo and an army major wrote me a letter that I should immediately leave Diplo,” he recalls. “During the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war everybody left Diplo.”
Memon recalls that the first person who acquired education in Diplo was Sain Haji Abu Talib, father of Professor Saleh Memon. Talib was the first teacher from Diplo and was paid five rupees a month as his salary. Today, about 200,000 people inhabit the taluka Diplo and about 70 per cent patients from the surrounding areas of its headquarter visit Memon when they are ill. “Tuberculosis is very common in Tharparkar,” says Memon. “People are also lacking in health education.”
After graduation, Memon got his first posting in district Sanghar in Sindh where he worked for about three years. His father passed away on Sept 24, 1971. In November that year Memon shifted to Diplo. After his retirement in Grade 20 from Taluka Hospital Diplo, he is serving patients in accordance with his father’s wish. He also treats women since all female doctors hailing from Diplo prefer to have relatively lucrative jobs outside Diplo.
“Prof Saleh Memon, who was also personal physician to President Ziaul Haq and the King of Saudia Arabia, was the first doctor from Diplo. He died two years ago,” says Memon.
During the month of Ramadan Memon write letters to all his acquaintances to collect donations. “Snake bite is very common in Tharparkar and I have never been short of anti-venom vaccine,” he says with a sense of pride.
“During the last 40 years I have performed only seven post-mortems, four pertaining to murder while three were suicide cases,” he says indicating extremely low crime rate in Tharparkar where 40 per cent population comprises of Hindus and schedule castes.
A visit to two villages in taluka Diplo was equally fascinating. Moolan, 35, a woman in Khari Bheel village in taluka Diplo, some 48 kilometre from Tharparkar’s district headquarter Mithi, has eight children. She works in the fields and makes handmade rillis (hand-made colourful bed sheets) at home besides doing embroidery work. “A new rilli costs me 1,000 rupees. I don’t sell them. I make them for my daughters’ dowry,” she says.
Her husband Anopo, 37, has acquired education till Intermediate from Diplo and is a bookkeeper at Union Council-based Poverty Reduction Programme. Interestingly he has been nominated for this job by women’s voluntary organisation called Sojhro. He is also involved in construction work as a contractor. The Poverty Reduction Programme is being run with the support of a non-governmental organisation, Thardeep Rural Support Programme (TRDP).
Anopo told TSI that eight out of the 70 families of the small village have availed a loan of 12,000 rupees each as their income generation activity and purchased goats.
“I availed a loan of 12,000 rupees and bought three goats. I am sure I will benefit from the deal. They will give birth to new ones and I will be able to give milk to my children,” says Seeji. She has already paid two installments of her loan.
TRDP through funding from Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund has installed solar panel in the village that has been a boon for the impoverished people. Freshwater is available in the village at a depth of 120 feet since it is near the coastal area.
Anopo’s daughter Teejan studies in grade II and goes to school all by herself that is about three kilometre away. “Give us a school, here” pleads Anopo.
Jey Ram, 27, a young man from Meghwar community lives in Bitri village, about 60 km from Tharparkar’s district headquarter, Mithi. He passed his high school examination from Naukot and Intermediate from Degree College Tando Jam. Unlike the Bheel community that migrates to barrage areas during drought and harvesting, people from the Meghwar community do not migrate.
“I worked for seven years in a garment factory in Karachi and earned about 7,000 rupees a month,” says Jey Ram. “Then I got a job at National Commission for Human Development in my village. Here I am paid 3,000 rupees but I enjoy living with my family. I make 800 rupees every month through stitching clothes. I also work in my field and look after my cattle. When there are rains I fetch 10,000 to 12,000 rupees in a season through my Guar and Bajra field,” says Ram.
“The problem of availability of fresh water has been solved,” he continues. “Thardeep has given us a hand pump and a well. We also have a rain water harvesting pond,” he says.
But many problems persist in the village. “The road is seven kilometre away from here. If a snake bites somebody, the person has to be carried on shoulders. There are lots of snake biting cases in our village,” says Kanoon, 40, who works in a field and is also involved in household chores such as cooking.
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