Mehfooz Alam/Patna 

At the age of 82, Dr. Ahmed Abdul Hai, a renowned surgeon specialist of Bihar prefers to serve the people rather than leave to foreign shores to live a life of comfort. Owner of Patna's best private hospital, Dr Hai is an inspiration to all practitioners of medicine. 

He was born on July 20, 1942, in Patna in one of the richest Muslim families of Bihar. His father Dr. Muhammad Abdul Hai was also a doctor in the British government who later received Padma Bhushan for his services. 

Dr. Ahmed Abdul Hai is the eldest among three brothers and one sister. Their father made special arrangements for the education and training of the children. The family lived in a posh area of Patna had had a fairly high standard of living. As a child, Dr. Ahmed Abdul Hai was taught religion and the Quran at home. When he turned six, he was admitted to St. Xavier's School, a prestigious institution in the city. 

His mother was from an aristocratic family. Dr. Ahmed Abdul Hai was good in reading and writing from the beginning, so he topped in every class of the school.

Dr  Ahmed Abdul Hai with his family

Speaking with Awaz The Voice, he said at the St. Xavier School they were taught by teachers who were Christian priests and mostly American citizens. At that time there was a course called Senior Cambridge. A copy of it would go to England and the result would come from there. The advantage of this course was that more than half of the IAC course was covered. 

He said, "I passed that exam in 1958 with good marks and got admission to the Patna Science College where he completed his IAC and joined the Patna Medical College, Patna University. There was no competition at that time. Admission was done based on the IAC number. He said that I was admitted to the Patna Medical College in 1960."

According to Dr. Ahmed Abdul Hai, he was a topper in school and college. He had a passion for learning. "I believe that a person cannot succeed in any field without passion, hard work, and obsession. The journey to becoming a doctor is even tougher, so anyone who wants to enter this field needs to be very hardworking and punctual."

Dr. Hai says even as a child he always wanted to be a doctor. He said that there is an unwritten law in his family that if the father is a doctor, his children will also become doctors. "We also like this profession. Everyone at home thought that I should become a doctor, as my father was a famous physician. However, it so happened that my close friend Dr. Syed Ehsan Ahmad asked me why I didn't think about becoming a surgeon. He suggested that I should try surgery for a few days. The first time I went to the surgery, I was clear that I wanted to be a surgeon."

Dr Ahmad Abdul's Hai with his siblings in their childhood and their father (Left)

He passed his MBBS in 1965 and did post-graduation in general surgery from PMCH in 1969. In 1971, he received the degree of MS Orthopedic Surgery. "By this time, surgery had become my passion. I was crazy about learning and practicing surgery."

In 1977, Dr. Ahmad Abdul Hai was appointed as a teacher in the Patna Medical College where he performed hundreds of risky and complicated surgeries for 25 years. he rose to become Professor and Head of Surgery at PMCH. 

He narrates an interesting story about Chandra Shekhar, who came to him for treatment. "He was undergoing treatment in Lucknow. The doctor there referred him to Delhi. Even there he didn't get any relief from stomach pain. Doctors in Delhi advised him to go to PMCH in Patna. 

Dr. Hai said that he along with another professor Dr. UN Shahi operated on him. Later, he became the Prime Minister of the country, and during his visit to Patna and passing through the road on which the Medical College is located he mentioned his treatment there.

Dr. Hai says, "I lectured and worked in countries like America, and the UK, but what my basic learning was at the PMCH." 

Dr. Ahmed Abdul Hai with Chief Ministers Lalu Prasad Yadav and Nitish Kumar

Dr. Ahmed Abdul Hai supervised the doctoral thesis of more than 50 surgeons till his retirement in 2000. 

In 1978, Dr. Ahmed Abdul Hai received his FRCS degree from England. In 1984 he received an FICS degree from the USA and a FIAMS degree in 1988. He wrote more than 150 scientific papers and gave lectures in different countries. He is the first Muslim doctor in the country to become the National President of the All India Surgeons Association.

He told Awaz-The Voice that after retiring from PMCH, Lalu Prasad Yadav asked him to stay in PMCH as his tenure would be extended. "I refused and started working diligently for my hospital."

He said his grandfather SM Sharif advised him to establish a hospital. The foundation of his hospital was laid at the house of his maternal grandfather's house in Sharif Colony. 

He said that the hospital which started with two rooms soon became a hospital of 40 rooms. It received a heavy rush of patients. He soon decided to build a bigger hospital as the present one was proving insufficient to cater to the rush. "I owned a plot of land in Raja Bazar Samanpura, so I decided to build a hospital there."

He says his father encouraged him a lot on this project. Also, Dr. Akhlaqur Rahman Qadwai, the then-governor of Bihar, encouraged and helped him. By the time his father had left the world in 1995, his 100-bed HMRI Hospital was ready.

When finally, the 350-room hospital started functioning Dr Hai realised that it was one thing to see a patient and perform surgery and another to run a massive hospital. "I was not the one to loot the patients in the name of treatment. Then big companies from many places were offering to collaborate with us, there were offers from many corporates but we chose Paras which was a new entrant in the field. I spoke to Dr. Dharmendra Naga, the director of Paras after which I decided to collaborate with them."

Back then no corporate companies wanted to come to Bihar. Paras started working with us and the name of HMRI Hospital now became Paras HMRI. This hospital with three and a half hundred beds is now one of the top hospitals in Bihar.

Dr. Ahmed Abdul Hai has been interested in social work since the beginning. There are many madrassas and orphanages under management. He heads a social organization called Flame and he never misses an opportunity to provide education to poor children. 

Dr Ahmad Abdul Hai

Dr. Hai is equally popular among both Muslims and Hindus. 

He says Allah has given me so much wealth and fame, so God would ask me if I helped the poor enough after death. That is why, he feels, a devout Muslim, must serve society and people at any cost.

Dr. Ahmed Abdul Hai is the eldest among three brothers and one sister. His two other brothers are doctors and live in the USA. One of their brothers, Dr. Hamid Abdul Hai, died in the United States during Covid. The younger brother Mahmood Abdul Hai is in America and is considered one of the top doctors there. 

Dr. Ahmed Abdul Hai had also gone to America to serve his parents, he considered it appropriate to stay here and is doing the work of service by staying in Patna.

In 1973, Dr. Ahmed Abdul Hai got married to Hashmat Abdul Hai, the daughter-in-law of Prof. Dr. Syed Ahmed Sahib, the head of the Arabic department of Patna University. They have three children one son and two daughters. His children are also doctors.

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Even at the age of 82, Dr. Ahmed Abdul Hai sees patients daily and is fully engaged in his work. He says he believes that work is the greatest wealth and as long as a person is in this world, he should be engaged in service and full dedication and focus.