PHOTO: AFP
Karachi: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has issued a commemorative Rs50 coin to honour the memory of humanitarian and German-born medical missionary Dr Ruth Pfau. For her tireless efforts to contain leprosy in Pakistan, she was often hailed as the ‘Mother Teresa of Pakistan’. In light of this commemoration, we set out to trace her accomplishments in numbers, as reported by BBC, The New York Times and Geo.
1929
was the year Dr Pfau was born in Leipzig, Germany
17
was the age at which she crossed the border into West Germany to pursue a degree in medicine
1950
was the year she graduated as a physician
30
was her age when she set foot in Pakistan in hopes of acquiring an Indian visa
1960
was the year she began working on getting leprosy under control in Pakistan and soon after joined Marie Adelaide Leprosy Center (MALC)
50,000
is the number of families she treated at the centre
1979
was the year she received Pakistan’s second-highest civilian award, Hilal-i-Imtiaz
157
is the number of MALC medical centres that were opened up under the supervision of Dr Pfau
1996
was the year her hard work bore fruit when the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared Pakistan as the first country in the East Mediterranean region to have controlled leprosy
500
is the approximate number of patients that are treated at MALC annually
2017
was the year she passed away and was laid to rest in Karachi after a state funeral
