PAKISTAN HONOURS SON OF THE SOIL, CMC ALUMNUS

 

Dr. Ernest Lall,  alumnus of the MBBS batch of 1949, received the Nazriya Pakistan Council 2010 Award for his service to the people of Pakistan since  September 1957 .
Dr. Lall, surgeon and former Director of the Christian Hospital in Taxila was perhaps the only Christian among the 12 distinguished recipients, who included two army Generals and two women athletes. At the awards ceremony in Islamabad on March 23, 2010 he received the honour from the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Syed Yousef Raza Gilani.

Dr. Ernest Lall and his ophthalmologist wife from Nagpur and classmate in CMC, Dr. Pramila Lall have been working in this Presbyterian hospital, extending low cost high quality medical care to millions of Pakistanis. They were instrumental in reviving it from the verge of closing down and transforming it into a large and stable general hospital. Dr. Pramila Lall has done more than 200,000 cataract operations and was the recipient of the Presidential Award in 2002. In August 2002 there was a suicide grenade attack on their hospital, killing three nurses, injuring 25 and damaging several buildings. But the Lalls continue undaunted well into their 53rd year of service. “The award glory has come and gone but we are back to work at Taxila”, says the untiring Dr. Lall.

Drs. Ernest and Pramila Lall were awarded the Paul Harrison prize by CMC in 1984, for their challenging demonstration of effective Christian medical service.