Dr Majid’s Event at the House of Lords
Immigration Judge and Scholar, Dr Amir Ali Majid, (Sitara-i-Imtiaz, BA LLB Hons LLM DCL Barrister), organised a very private and exclusive event at the House of Lords on Tuesday 19th October 2010.
The purpose of the event was to introduce the guests to the Gojra Eye Hospital Project, more commonly known as the G.O Fund (Gojra Ophthalmology Fund). Dr Majid was actually born in Gojra, a small town near Faisalabad in Pakistan.
The brief background to this project is that Dr Majid was tragically blinded at the age of 17 and it is to his credit that he attained all the qualifications attached to his name after he was blinded. He is an outstanding person and a role-model to all those with sight as well as those without!
He came to the UK and feels that the positive attitude to disability in this country enabled him to become highly successful in his life. Now he wants to do something for his town and the people still living there and has decided to build an Eye Hospital in the heart of Gojra.
Prof Upadhyay, world-famous glaucoma expert, is the founder of this project. HHe told anecdotes of persons regaining their eyesight, by his operations in the free eye camp held in Gojra in October 1995, after living with blindness for decades. He indicated the acute need of eye treatment in Gojra and surrounding areas, spotlighting that a donation of £25 could finance a sight-giving operation.
Although Gojra is a Tahsil town, it was so important for quality eye surgery that in 1930’s the British Colonial Governor of Punjab raised the status of Gojra hospital to enable it to meet its needs – people from major towns like Delhi, Mumbai and Calcutta came to Gojra for eye treatment. This special prestige for eye surgery was highlighted in this function by the autobiographical story of Mr Shital Singh Sitara. This Sikh gentleman said, ”I was blind in my childhood. In 1945 my parents were advised to take me to Gojra. My parents took me, from the famous city of Multan, to Gojra. After examining me the famous eye surgeon, Dr Herbajhan Sing, said that it was the first time he had to say to someone that he could not do anything for them”.
All three Patrons of the project – Prof S K Upadhyay, Lord Ahmed of Rotherham and the Right Honourable Lord Justice Sir Stephen Sedley – were at this event taking centre stage. Lord Colin Low CBE, the first blind peer in living memory, and Mayor of the London Borough of Waltham Forest (in which Dr Majid lives), Mr Masood Ahmed, were also present at this event.
The Chief Guest at this event was the Rt Hon Lord Justice Sir Stephen Sedley QC, widely known as the golden Judge of this country. The GO Fund has the immense benefit of his patronage. In appreciation of Sir Stephen’s extraordinary help to the eye hospital project, particularly arranging a 40-minutes meeting with the DfID Minister, he was presented with an award by Mr. Mushtaq Lasharie. The UK Jewellers Association produced the Gold Shield for Sir Stephen. The UJA Chairman, Mr Nasir Ali, said, “Dr Majid is not the only one to admire Sir Stephen, we are also impressed by his sterling work for this project, purely for the welfare of Pakistanis on low income.”
The Lord Justice was extremely surprised at this gesture and accepted the award humbly with a very brief speech, wishing Dr Majid’s efforts to come to fruition and for the Hospital to be built according to Dr Majid’s vision!
In addition to raising funds, Dr Majid is also liaising with and collating teams of eye specialist doctors and surgeons who will make periodic visits to the hospital and in particular train the local staff there in good medical practices.
The event was attended by medical practitioners, all pledging support for the Hospital as well as many of Dr Majid’s colleagues from the legal profession. A small number of speakers at the event shared their experiences and commended Dr Majid’s resolve to build this hospital come what may.
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Mr Mushtaq Lasharie, whose excellent support Dr Majid appreciates most candidly, potently helped in the successful organisation of this function; out of 100 guests, about 20 were attending the event due to Mr Lasharie’s direct approaches. A number of businessmen were also present and all pledged their support for the Hospital n monetary terms. A collection for the hospital was made and people gave generously resulting in a total of £34025.
With the building of the proposed hospital, advanced and spread on 48 Kanals, the past glory of Gojra in eye surgery will be restored again. Those who cannot come for treatment abroad will be helped in their own locality. It is the stated aim of the GO Fund that “preventable blindness” should not be allowed to exist simply because of the shortage of monetory resources.
GO Fund is a registered charity and Dr Majid hopes to collect enough money to provide services to people who are suffering blindness or other eye related diseases, many of which are preventable if treated at the right time.
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