UPDATE: Please be advised the Distinguished Lecture Series events featuring Dr. Abdul Bari Khan scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 27, and Wednesday, Sept. 28, will not take place because of scheduling conflicts.
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Dr. Abdul Bari Khan, co-founder and chief executive officer of Indus Hospital, a hospital that operates free of charge and is also the first paperless hospital in Karachi, Pakistan, will speak at both the Inova Center for Personalized Health (ICPH) and Shenandoah University’s Harry F. Byrd, Jr. School of Business this month.
Dr. Khan’s presentation at ICPH will take place at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 27, in Room C1 of the ICPH Conference Center (north side), located at 3225 Gallows Road, Fairfax, VA 22037, while his presentation on the campus of Shenandoah University will take place at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 28, in Halpin-Harrison Hall, Stimpson Auditorium, located at 600 Millwood Avenue, Winchester, VA 22601.
Khan will present “Quality care, free of cost: Changing the paradigm of health care delivery at The Indus Hospital.” A question and answer session will follow. Both events are free and open to the public, and are part of the ongoing Distinguished Lecture Series sponsored by Shenandoah’s school of business. Light refreshments will be provided during pre-event receptions, which will occur one half hour before the events.
“I had the opportunity to meet with Dr. Khan while I was lecturing in Karachi, Pakistan,” said Dean of the Harry F. Byrd, Jr. School of Business Miles Davis, Ph.D. “You cannot help but be touched by the stories Dr. Khan tells of why he felt the need to develop Indus Hospital. Shenandoah University and Inova Health System are fortunate to have this visionary humanitarian come speak to our communities.”
Khan, a native of Karachi, has a long history of community service and philanthropy geared towards social upliftment. He completed his medical education from The DOW Medical College in 1986 and received a fellowship in cardiac surgery from The College of Physicians & Surgeons Pakistan in 1995. Passionately driven towards social welfare activities even as a medical student, Khan became an active member of The DOW Medical Patients’ Welfare Association (PWA) and soon its focal person for the PWA blood bank.
In 1986, after witnessing a high intensity bomb blast in Saddar that resulted in many casualties, Khan came to the realization that the casualty section in The Civil Hospital was too small to deal with crisis emergencies and decided to revamp and expand the unit. In working with the PWA to increase the unit’s capacity, Khan’s fundraising efforts resulted in the establishment of a 36-bed casualty ward, opening doors for a greater number of emergency cases.
After acquiring formal training in cardiac surgery, Khan joined The Civil Hospital Karachi as assistant professor for cardiac surgery, even though no cardiac surgery ward existed in the hospital. Khan launched a “Friends of Cardiac Surgery” fundraising drive in order to establish a cardiac surgery department that would offer cardiac surgery free of cost. Since then, thousands of patients have benefited from free surgical treatment at The Cardiac Surgery Department of The Civil Hospital.
For those who cannot afford the expense of treatments and surgeries, Khan and his medical counterparts and friends have also established the Ruffaydah Foundation, a foundation represented by a group of philanthropists, professionals, businessmen, social workers and intellectuals who endeavor to provide unconditional and uncompromised medical services for the underprivileged sections of society.
Fueled by a passion to serve people unable to afford health care facilities, and with the joint support of The Ruffaydah Foundation and The Islamic Mission Hospital Trust, Khan’s vision of a state-of-the-art free hospital culminated in the creation of a 150-bed hospital in July 2007. Khan’s brainchild, Indus Hospital, is the realization of a dream to provide premium health care services to those who do not have the means to pay for quality medical care.
Managed by a passionate and competent team of local and expatriate professionals working round-the-clock under Khan’s dynamic leadership, Indus Hospital has treated more than 2.3 million patients since its inception in 2007 and continues to expand and grow.
Khan is a 2009 recipient of the DOW Graduate Association of North America Lifetime Achievement Award for his selfless contribution to health and community service and in 2015 was awarded Tamgha-e-Imtiaz by the President of Pakistan for services in health care.
In recognition of his services rendered in the field of medicine, he was awarded an honorary doctorate (Ph.D.) from Hamdard University Pakistan in 2015.
For more information about these events, contact Harry F. Byrd, Jr. School of Business Administrative Assistant Donna Fazio at 540/665-4572 or dfazio@su.edu.
