Dr Syed Adeebul Hasan Rizvi

Syed Adeebul Hasan Rizvi was born on September 11, 1938, in Kalanpur, a small village about ten kilometers
from the city of Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh, British India. He was the youngest of nine children-six boys and
three girls.

Academic/professional Qualifications
He attended elementary school and after its completion went to Jai Narayan High School in Benares, He
studied there for two years and in 1951 moved to Pakistan.
In Pakistan, Rizvi entered Diaram Jetha Mal Science College, more popularly known as DJ College and
after three years at DJ, Rizvi moved on to Liaqat Medical College in Hyderabad, Pakistan and studied anatomy
and physiology.
He returned to Karachi to continue his medical studies at Dow Medical College and did his pharmacology,
pathology, and general surgery. In 1961, he received his MBBS-Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of
Surgery, landing among the top four in his class. Rizvi decided to pursue surgery at the Jinnah Postgraduate
Medical Center.
In late 1962, Rizvi left Pakistan with a merit scholarship to the Royal College of Surgeons in London. He got
one at Salford Royal Hospital in Manchester. After completing the introductory course at Salford, Rizvi went
to Crumpsall Hospital. In this teaching hospital, he was the senior house surgeon in urology. Thereafter he
practiced emergency medicine at Ancoats Hospital for a year, and then rotated for cancer surgery and plastic
surgery at Christie Hospital. From there he went to Hope Hospital, a postgraduate facility of Salford
University, to train in general surgery and urology. While he was still in training at Hope, he was hired as
resident surgical officer there, a post normally reserved for doctors who had completed their fellowships. In
1967, Rizvi took the examinations for his fellowship.
Dr Adeeb Rizvi currently holds MBBS, FCPS, FRCS, FRCS Ed, FRCP, PhD degree.

Professional Affiliations
He is currently the Professor and Director in SIUT. He has also founded Society for the Welfare of Patients of
Urology and Transplantation and is currently a member of it.

Achievements
After returning to Pakistan he became an assistant professor at Dow Medical College and, at the same time,
practicing surgery at Civil Hospital. When Rizvi set up the urology ward, all that was given to him was a
small, eight-bed room in Civil Hospital's burns ward. In the years following its inception, it has progressed
from a small ward to a centre of excellence.
By 1991, the urology ward had become a department and had been declared a Center of Excellence and was
given the status of an autonomous institute-the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation, or SIUT-by an
Act of the Sindh government.
In 1995, Rizvi went ahead and performed Pakistan's first cadaveric renal transplant using a kidney donated
by the Eurotransplant Foundation, the largest center for coordinating transplant activities in Europe. The
kidney was successfully transplanted into a young female patient. Now about 10-12 transplants are performed
weekly, and in 2003 doctors at SIUT performed Pakistan's first liver transplant. In 2004, a child care unit was
opened. Recently, SIUT launched its School of Technology and its Nursing School and College. SIUT also
runs the countrys only centre for biomedical ethics and culture.

Recognition
Dr. Rizvi is the recipient of Magsasay Award (1998). It is equivalent of the Asian "Nobel" award. In 1999 he
was awarded Hilal-e-Imtiaz. In 1991 and then again in 2000 he was awarded Sitara-e-Imtiaz.
He was conferred with the prestigious "Hunterian Professorship" by the Royal College of Surgeons of England
for year 2003. This is extremely rare that such an honor is given to an outsider. He has been awarded by the
National Kidney Foundation of U.S.A. in 2004.)
On 22nd July President Asif Ali Zardari announced that government would nominate prominent surgeon Dr
Adeebul Hassan Rizvi for Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his services in the field of organ transplant.

A good manager
Dr Adeeb Rizvi has proven himself as an outstanding doctor and philanthropist as well an excellent manager.
This can be proved by the following qualities which he has displayed during his long years of service to the
country.
Relation with doctors and staff
When Rizvi formed his team in the urology ward, he broke at least four rules. First, he did not sit alone in a
room, separate from the junior doctors; he sat among them. Second, he did not see only cases selected for him
by junior doctors; he saw every case. Third, he did not limit the number of cases he and his team handled to
those that could be accommodated in one or two hours of consultation; he attended to every case. This brought
him closer to the patients and enabled him get a better idea of their problems. Fourth, Rizvi broke the rule that
senior doctors should not fraternize with junior doctors. When a certain senior doctor told him that senior
doctors should never let junior doctors sit with them, Rizvi said, "I'm sorry, but I cannot have tea without my
doctors."
These practices had two benefits: first, they enabled Rizvi to know his team well and become close to them;
and second, they allowed Rizvi to know his patients well-or at least as well as his junior doctors did.
Due to his attitude institute staff is free to bring up their problems. "Even the cleaner . . . can come and catch a
hold of me," Rizvi says. This ensures that everyone performs their job with peace of mind. "Whether it is their
health, their job, or their children's problems, we're used to looking after them." A common canteen encourages
fellowship between doctors and staff.
Availing of opportunities
Dr Adeeb Rizvi used every opportunity to improve his facility. For e.g. he and his team operated on a wellknown businessman. The businessman wanted to pay Rizvi but Rizvi told him to give his team a kidney
machine instead. Grateful, the businessman obliged. After that, Rizvi showed representatives of the
government the machine that he was able to purchase and told them he needed more. They gave him one as
well. As a result, the number of patients in the ward grew, and his nurses, doctors, and technicians began
training. After a time, he had about twenty machines running in his unit.
Relation with Patients
Then something happened that changed the way Rizvi managed dialysis cases. One of his brothers developed
kidney stones and, subsequently, suffered renal failure. He also learned about depression which patients faced.
Whenever his brother had fever and was wrecked with pain and nausea he would say, "Life is not worth living.
I feel like taking out my [gun] and shooting myself." Rizvi says he sometimes used to ask himself (about a
patient undergoing dialysis): "I have done the maximum. Why is this patient complaining?" Now he knew
better. Sadly, before his brother could have a kidney transplant, he developed liver disease and died.

The episode strengthened Rizvi's determination. He saw the financial burden that his brother and his brother's
family had had to bear. And he saw how the whole family became involved and gave its support. Rizvi asked
himself, what if the same thing had happened to someone who did not have a family? After he returned to
Karachi, he began to spend months and months sitting with his patients.
Sharing the experience with the staff created a sort of understanding between him and his fellow doctors and
technicians and nurses. They all started giving patients more individual attention.People began to notice that
doctors and staff members in Rizvi's unit would sit and look after a single patient through the whole day and
night. "It was from this that we got support," Rizvi notes.
"We are taught not to get involved with patients," Rizvi says, "but we get involved with patients.
Financial solutions
Although Rizvi had the support of the government for what he was doing, he could not depend on it for funds.
So in 1986, Rizvi organized a society for the welfare of patients through which such donations could be
channeled known as the Society for the Welfare of Patients of Urology and Transplantation, Civil Hospital.
The Society raises funds for equipment and dialysis costs, lithotripsy, transplant operations and posttransplantation care and drugs.
Successor
Dr Rizvi has found a successor in Dr Anwar Naqvi to carry on his work .He is confident that, when he retires,
Anwar Naqvi and the team will be able to carry on because they have worked together for a long time and
because they respect one another. They are also constantly cultivating new people who are carefully chosen by
Rizvi.

References

http://www.rmaf.org.ph/Awardees/Biography/BiographyRizviSye.htm
http://www.siut.org/faculty.htm
http://considersold.com/siut/chapters/hasanrizvi.html
http://news.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-contentlibrary/dawn/news/pakistan/president+zardari+to+donate+organs

Submitted by Hasham Zahid BBA3

Submitted to Sir Mirza Sardar
Submitted in November 8 2010