The bereaved include his widow, Masooma Rab, son Dr Tanveer Rab, two daughters – Dr Samina Hussain and Dr Shahina Rab – and uncoutable students across the world.
The good doctor was diagnosed with a brain tumour in March this year. According to his family, he was being treated at home in Karachi until his death on yesterday morning.
Born in 1931 in Bihar, India, Dr Rab received his medical education at Dhaka Medical College and his post-graduate medical education in the United Kingdom.
He was the founding father of the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP) and was its president as well. He was also the overseas adviser to the Royal College of Physicians, UK. For his great contributions to the field of medicine in Pakistan, Dr Rab was awarded the ‘Sitara-e-Imtiaz’ by the government.
After 1971, he moved to Karachi from Dhaka. The next year in June 1972, he joined Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), where he worked until his retirement in January 1991. He was the only professor who retired in grade-22 and continued teaching even after his retirement. In the year 2000, Prof Rab was also appointed as the provincial health minister for the caretaker government.
Hundreds of doctors, his students and family friends attended the funeral prayers held on the CPSP grounds. It was his final wish to have his funeral on these grounds.
