Professor Syed Zafar Haider

1927 - 2017

Professor Syed Zafar Haider is considered as pioneers of endocrine and thyroid surgery in Pakistan. Professor Syed Zafar Haider was born in Pakpattan in 1927. He received his early education in Pakpattan. He joined Forman Christian College Lahore from where he did F.Sc. He graduated from King Edward Medical College Lahore in 1950 & moved to United Kingdom in 1952 for his post-graduation. There he worked with legendary surgeons like Henry Hamilton Stewart, the urologist who was pioneer of partial nephrectomy & Sir Thomas Holmes Sellors, President Royal College of Surgeons of England who was pioneer of pulmonary volvulotomy. 

He returned to Pakistan in 1957 & was posted as an Assistant Professor at Nishtar Medical College Multan. There he pioneered & established head & neck & oesophageal surgery & did the first partial nephrectomy at Nishtar. He was transferred to King Edward Medical College in 1980. At Mayo hospital he did the first parathyroidectomy in Punjab & made East Surgical ward the center for thyroid surgery doing more than two thousand thyroidectomies. He retired in 1988 as Professor of Surgery, King Edward Medical College & joined Shalamar Hospital Lahore as honorary surgeon where he served till 2001. He passed away on 3rd August 2017 after a prolonged battle of nine years against cancer of prostate. His demise brings an end to an illustrious era in surgery. He trained a large number of surgeons who are occupying coveted positions in medical institutions in Pakistan and serving overseas. Now the beacon of his training shines in form of Prof. Khwaja M Azim at Shalamar Medical and Dental College, Lahore.