Dr. Sheikh Jalal a well-known cardiologist was cast
for a role at the international level and had he opted for New Delhi he
would have earned bigger laurels as a medical scientist. But he
preferred Kashmir to a bigger role at the national level. However, the
state lost a doctor who treated the poor. He died after a month-long
battle in the AIIMs in New Delhi.
Dr Sheikh Jalal,who was loved
by the senior faculty members at the AIIMS when he was simply a student
undergoing postgraduate courses in cardiology,opted for his
homeland, Pampore-Srinagar simply to serve people in the valley. And for
about three decades he served people, irrespective of their
creed, cast, region or economic status.
Yes, a number of
intellectuals, academicians, poets, writers, journalists, doctors and
political leaders have lost their lives in the 23-year long militancy
related violence but the valley may not be able to bear the loss it has
suffered in the death of Dr Sheikh Jalal.
Dr. Sheikh Jalal died
on Saturday at All India Institute of Medical Sciences a month after he
was critically injured in a terror attack at his hometown of Pampore
in Kashmir. Terrorists attacked him and his gunmen on July 18, in which two
security men were killed on the spot and Dr Sheikh Jalal received serious
injuries.
Hospital administration sources at AIIMS
confirmed Dr. Sheikh Jalal's death and said that his post mortem was being
conducted by a team of doctors. His body would be flown to Srinagar for
funeral rites by an afternoon flight even as some J&K Government
officials were trying to arrange a special air carrier.
Formerly Director of SKIMS tertiary care hospital and Head of Cardiology department Dr. Sheikh Jalal had been attacked by suspected terrorists near his
ancestral home in Dr. Sheikh JALAL's street, Pampore on July 18. Both of his personal security
guards had died in the broad daylight attack.
Dr
Sheikh Jalal,was a down-to-earth more of a human being than a medical
practitioner. Money was never his love and had it been the case he would
have become a multi-millionaire during the his 45 year long active
service. One has yet to see a son as dutiful as Dr Jalal who preferred to
be by the side of his mother, a widow, to earning laurels as a
cardiologist in New Delhi.
Son of a Pampore Dr Sheikh Jalal
had achieved eminence by his caliber as a cardiologist. And those
patients from Jammu and Kashmir who would visit New Delhi or Chandigarh
for treatment to their heart ailments would usually refer those
patients back to Dr Sheikh Jalal.
People and politicians in
the valley had complete trust in his expertise as a cardiologist. Had it
not been the case Sheikh Abdullah would have not opted for Dr Sheikh Jalal’s
opinion when he (Sheikh) fell ill in August-September 1982. Dr Sheikh Jalal spent
a number of weeks in the house located behind the Nedous Hotel on the
Maulana Azad Road in Srinagar tending to the ailing leader. Though some
of the eminent cardiologists from New Delhi and other parts of the
country had visited the Sheikh they prescribed medicines only after
seeking opinion from Dr Sheikh Jalal.
Unfortunately he had
become victim of what one would call “dirty political intrigues within
Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Soura,Srinagar, where he
joined as a cardiologist and rose to become its Director. I have not been
able to fathom the reason for being in the centre of one controversy or
the other. He was a doctor,a gantleman who was misunderstood by his
colleagues, by political leaders and never by patients.
Dr Sheikh Jalal had many interesting anecdotes to say.One pertained to a
senior doctor in the AIIMS. .One eminent surgeon, Dr Atma Prakash, had t
aken ill during the middle of a night. He used to reside within the
faculty complex of the AIIMS. Since he had faith in Dr Sheikh Jalal Atma Prakash
called for the young doctor. Dr Sheikh Jalal administered all medicines that
were required to revive his heart. But he died in the morning.
Whe his body was being carried to the cremation ground Dr Sheikh Jalal
was one among a big group of mourners accompanying the body. A couple of
sleuths of an Indian intelligence agency,who also accompanied the
body,were heard by Jalal asking each other “why Atma Prakash had
summoned a muslim when there were other senior doctors available for
help ?” They went even to the extent of smelling some mischief from Dr
Sheikh Jalal.
Alas! Dr Sheikh Jalal survived that incident but
could not save himself from the bullets of terrorist. His death
is a big loss to his wife, mother and children but a bigger loss to the
people of Kashmir.
What could have been the reason
for unidentified terrrorist to attak Dr Sheikh Jalal ? He was highly gullible. He
placed trust in everybody and would open his heart before strangers too.
His mother would be waiting for her son to get up and have
“namkeen chai”(tea added with salt and milk) and chappati made of maize
flour for his breakfast. Personally I believe that Dr Sheikh Jalal was a symbol
of a man of simple living and high thinking. He did not move out of of
Pampore and settle somewhere in Srinagar when he had the option. He had
no love for comforts and that is why rustic life suited him.But the
gunmen thought otherwise. Peace be to his soul. (KIP)
