LAHORE/MULTAN: Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has announced that Nishtar Medical University, Multan, Vice Chancellor Dr Mustafa Kamal Pasha will be nominated for the high civil award for laying down his life in the fight against the coronavirus.

Mr Buzdar on Sunday made a telephone call to the family members of Dr Pasha and expressed his sorrow over his death. He paid tributes to the invaluable services rendered by Dr Pasha in health care and education, mentioning exemplary services of the deceased for treatment of corona patients on the front line.

Besides nominating Dr Pasha for the award, the CM said the family of Dr Pasha would be granted the martyrs’ package and the family members would keep using the official residence.

In a tweet on Sunday, the CM stated that the way Dr Pasha led his team during the pandemic by putting his life in danger was unforgettable.

Dr Pasha died of the Covid-19 on July 15. Initially, he had isolated himself at his residence after the symptoms appeared; however when he tested positive and faced breathing difficulty, he was shifted to a private hospital on June 22 from where a video was shared on social media in which he said that he was alright. Requesting prayers for his health, he had stated that he was not in the ICU and he would be at work after one week.

According to Dr Bilquis Shabbir, the professor of Medicine at King Edward Medical University (KEMU) and a cousin of Dr Pasha, on the morning of July 4, an emergency call from Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi Institute of Cardiology (CPEIC) Chief Executive Office Dr Rana Altaf was received by KEMU VC Dr Khalid Masud Gondal which informed that the condition of Dr Pasha had severely deteriorated. The KEMU VC sent physician Dr Salman Ayaz to Multan immediately to provide his professional expertise while a team of Quaid-i-Azam Medical College also reached Multan on the direction of QAMC Principal Mukhtar Hussain. Dr Pasha was immediately shifted to the CPEIC and put on a ventilator. On July 6, the team of doctors decided to place Dr Pasha on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) treatment, an advanced form of life support that’s used to restore heart and lung function in patients experiencing cardiac and/or respiratory failure. His health started to improve.

On July 13, Dr Pasha developed left tension haemopnenmothorax (a condition of having air and blood in the chest cavity), which was managed by chest drain; however, he developed a repeat episode of airway bleeding again despite the rest of parameters were stable but the expert panel was concerned about the sequence of adverse developments. Two days later, Dr Pasha lost his life.

According to renowned intellectual and writer Shakir Hussain Shakir, Dr Muhammad Kamal, the father of Dr Pasha also served as principal Nishtar Medical College.

Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2020