Islamabad: The Government of Pakistan has recognised 15 leading medical and health professionals, including living legends Prof Dr Syed Jamal Raza and Prof Faisal Saud Dar and late medical icons Prof Dr Tahir Shamsi and Dr Naseem Salahuddin, with civil awards for their outstanding services to medicine and healthcare, while DRAP Chief Executive Officer Dr Obaidullah has also been selected for Sitara-i-Imtiaz.
Of the 15 recipients in the medicine and health category announced on Independence Day, Prof Faisal Saud Dar has been selected for Hilal-i-Imtiaz, five medical professionals for Sitara-i-Imtiaz, including two posthumously, and nine for Tamgha-i-Imtiaz. Separately, Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) CEO Dr Obaidullah has been selected for Sitara-i-Imtiaz.
Prof Dr Syed Jamal Raza, one of Pakistan’s most respected paediatricians and paediatric endocrinologists, has been selected for Sitara-i-Imtiaz for his decades-long contribution to child healthcare, medical education and development of specialised paediatric services.
A graduate of Dow Medical College, Prof Raza received sub-specialty training in paediatric endocrinology at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. He previously served as professor of paediatric medicine, head of the Paediatric Endocrine Unit and executive director of the National Institute of Child Health (NICH), Karachi, and currently heads the Sindh Institute of Child Health and Neonatology (SICHN) as its executive director.
Over several decades, Prof Raza has combined clinical medicine with teaching, research and institution-building, helping develop specialised paediatric and endocrine services and training generations of paediatricians.
Prof Faisal Saud Dar, one of the country’s foremost liver transplant surgeons, has been selected for Hilal-i-Imtiaz for his contribution to liver transplantation in Pakistan.
Prof Dar, currently dean of the Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute and Research Centre (PKLI&RC), Lahore, has played a leading role in establishing and expanding living-donor liver transplantation in the country. His career tally has crossed 2,500 liver transplants, including complex adult and paediatric procedures, while he has also helped train transplant surgeons and build indigenous expertise in the highly specialised field.
The government has posthumously selected renowned haematologist Prof Dr Tahir Sultan Shamsi for Sitara-i-Imtiaz, recognising a physician who pioneered bone marrow and stem-cell transplantation in Pakistan and transformed treatment options for patients with serious blood disorders.
Dr Shamsi and his team started stem-cell transplantation at Karachi’s Dr Ziauddin Hospital in October 1995. He subsequently founded the National Institute of Blood Diseases and Bone Marrow Transplantation (NIBD & BMT), which developed into a major centre for clinical haematology, blood cancers, transplantation, research and postgraduate training.
Dr Shamsi, who died in December 2021, also trained generations of haematologists and transplant professionals and played a major role in establishing bone marrow transplantation as a specialised field in Pakistan.
Another posthumous Sitara-i-Imtiaz has gone to Dr Naseem Salahuddin, one of Pakistan’s most distinguished infectious diseases specialists, who died in May this year after spending decades treating patients, training doctors and campaigning for prevention of infectious diseases, particularly rabies.
Dr Salahuddin headed infectious diseases at The Indus Hospital and became one of Pakistan’s leading authorities on rabies prevention and post-exposure prophylaxis. She had been associated with the WHO Expert Advisory Panel on Rabies since 2004 and played an important role in developing rabies prevention services, training healthcare workers and raising awareness about the fatal but preventable disease.
In another significant recognition for the health sector, DRAP CEO Dr Obaidullah has been selected for Sitara-i-Imtiaz. As chief executive of the country’s medicines and therapeutic products regulator, he heads the federal authority responsible for regulation of medicines, vaccines, medical devices and other therapeutic goods.
The two other medical professionals selected for Sitara-i-Imtiaz are Dr Shah Khalid and Prof Dr Muhammad Khurram.
Nine health and medical professionals selected for Tamgha-i-Imtiaz are Dr Naeem Taj, Dr Abdul Wasay, Dr Mohammad Sharif Hashmani, Dr Maaz Ul Hassan, Dr Raja Amjad Mahmood, Dr Muhammad Zulfiqar Ghouri, Dr Ejaz Qadeer, Dr Salah ud Din and Prof Dr Sajid Nazir Bhatti.
The civil awards were announced on August 14, 2026, and will formally be conferred at investiture ceremonies on Pakistan Day, March 23, 2027.
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