Book Review:
“A MEDICAL DOCTOR EXAMINES LIFE ON THREE CONTINENTS” BY Dr. Syed Akthar Ehtisham.
Dowite Class of 1962.
The meeting to ‘launch’ Dr Syed Akhtar Ehtisham’s book, “A Medical Doctor Examines Life on Three Continents- was held by The Pakistan Society of The University of London School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) on January 09, 2009.
Book Description from Amazon.com
An introduction to the history of Pakistan is set within the life story of a young man who became a doctor, moved to the US, and later went back to build a hospital for his countrymen. The discussion of politics, government policies, and popular movements is set within the drama of a young man going off to seek his fortune, start a family, and build a meaningful life in a fast-changing world.
The book will also interest expatriates from the Indian sub-continent who have passed through and witnessed the events described, and their children and grandchildren who want to know more about their family history.
Family and feelings infuse the book while illustrating anecdotally the impact of conservative government models versus those offering a social safety net.
A medical doctor and political activist, the author traces his life from India at partition to postgraduate work and practice in the UK, Canada and America, comparing health standards, economic well-being, race relations, and the political atmosphere on three continents during the socially-conscious 1960s and later under bare-knuckle capitalism. He weaves in a brief synopsis of Pakistan s tumultuous history, including the role played by superpowers with an interest in the region.
Part biography and part history and social commentary, this sweeping narrative sketches the political and economic realities of the past fifty years while tracing an eventful life spread across three continents, a life rich in personal relationships, politics, and practice as a medical doctor. The warm-hearted Dr. Ehtisham shares his story while outlining the passions and the political maneuvers that led to Pakistan s formation in 1947 and its ongoing struggle to forge a modern society while being hammered by repressive religious extremists on the one hand and abusive capitalist extremists on the other, riven by factions within as well as undermined by foreign influences seeking to control strategic terrain and a large population.
He narrates his early days as a medical student who helped organize Pakistan s progressive student movement. In the early 1950s they demonstrated against government promotion of right-wing groups which were the ideological forerunners of the Al-Qaida and Taliban. In 1961 they launched a campaign against General Ayub and the first military dictatorship in Pakistan, and wound up in jail.
Then, through his later experiences in the UK, Canada and the US, he compares the advanced social safety net state of the post-war UK with regimes that are determined to see people stand on their own two feet even when the system has already cut them off at the knees and shows the effect on the public when that state support was withdrawn. During his years in North America he saw the reductions in Disability and other benefits offered by the government to the poor and injured and he illustrates the impact on the population.
In later years he returned to Karachi and, despite the corruption and chaos of the business environment, founded a hospital there before completing his career and retiring in New York State.
Dr. Ehtisham shows how nations as well as individual lives are shaped by historical events, economic changes, religious fundamentalism, class systems and racial divides. (Book Description from Amazon.com; to see more and to buy the book go to:
