By Syed Khalid Mahmood
(Pakistan News & Features Services)
(Pakistan News & Features Services)
Surgeon Faiz Muhammad Khan, one of the founder members of the Pakistan Veterans Cricket Association (PVCA) and the Founder President of the Pakistan Association of Plastic Surgeons (PAPS), has passed away at the age of 79. He was buried in Karachi on August 9.
The PVCA Chairman, Fawad Ijaz Khan, and Mian Shaukat Hussain, a cricket commentator, in their condolence messages, recalled the services of the deceased surgeon who was a close friend of theirs.
“Surgeon Faiz was a founder member of the PVCA when it was founded in 1998. Besides being one of the top plastic surgeons of the country, he himself was a very good cricketer. He was an accurate medium pace bowler, who had stopped playing cricket only a few years ago,” Fawad recalled.
“The whole veterans’ cricket fraternity of Pakistan is very sad on the tragic death of Surgeon Faiz who was playing the game actively until he was 73 years old. He was working regularly at his hospital until the time of his death,” the PVCA Chairman added.
Mian Shaukat Hussain, who played cricket with Surgeon Faiz for many decades at the Karachi Gymkhana Cricket Ground, also felt shaken at the death of one of his long time buddies.
“We have had fond memories together and he was such a passionate cricketer who used to visit KG every Sunday. The last time I talked to him was just a couple of weeks ago. When reminded that we were missing him at KG cricket ground, he promised to return in a week or two. Sadly that couldn’t be possible,” Mian Shaukat remarked in a choked voice here at the Alamgir Masjid in Bahadurabad after offering Namaz-e-Janaza of the late Surgeon Faiz soon after Friday prayers.
Born at Rajkot in Rajhastan, India, he and his family had migrated to Pakistan soon after independence and they relocated at Hyderabad. After doing FRCS from Edinburgh, he had also practiced in the United States before returning to Karachi to continue his work in plastic surgery.
He was credited to have set up the department of plastic surgery here at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) in the early 1990s. Upon retirement from government service, he resumed practicing at his own hospital on Shaheed-e-Millat Road which continued until the last days of his life.
