My father, Dr Saboor Mir, who has died aged 94, was an eminent ophthalmologist and family GP who worked for the NHS for more than 40 years.
Having done his training in his native Pakistan, Saboor arrived in Glasgow on Christmas Eve, 1965, with his wife, Razia (nee Bukhsh), also a doctor. They both took up roles at the Western Infirmary and Vale of Leven hospitals.
In the 1970s, the family moved to Watford, Hertfordshire, where Saboor and Razia took up a GP practice partnership. During this time Saboor also worked as an eye surgeon and ophthalmologist at Charing Cross hospital in west London.
Born in Gujranwala on the outskirts of Lahore, in what was then British India, Saboor was one of seven children of Kulsum Begum and Mozaffer Ahmed, a railways inspector on the British India Railways.
While attending Government higher secondary school in Gujranwala, Saboor witnessed the horrors of partition in 1947, including seeing his Sikh neighbour thrown out of the top-floor window of his home and beaten in the street. He personally had a lucky escape when he missed a train that was then set on fire by an angry mob.
These terrible circumstances did not stop Saboor excelling academically, and he went on to obtain a BSc in botany at Government College Lahore (1952) then an MBBS (bachelor of medicine, bachelor of surgery, 1964) at King Edward Medical College. My father revelled in the social aspects of university life and was also editor of the King Edward Medical College Union Gazette. After graduation he joined the World Health Organization immunisation programme.
He married Razia in 1965, a couple of months before leaving for the UK. After settling in Hertfordshire, they remained at the South Oxhey GP surgery for the rest of their careers.
Saboor was a popular local figure. In the 80s he raised funds for the Watford Jamia mosque with the help of our then MP, Tristan Garel-Jones.
At Charing Cross hospital, Saboor worked alongside the pioneering ophthalmologist Sir Eric Arnott. On retirement from the hospital in 1995, he received an award recognising his 25 years of exemplary service. He continued as a GP until 2002. Post-retirement he enjoyed cooking “nana rice” and parathas for his grandchildren, and watching cricket at Lord’s and the T20 on television.
Razia died in 2018. Saboor is survived by his children, Saqib, Sadaf and me, and by seven grandchildren, Gabriela, Sancho, Catalina, Santiago, Benjamin, Samuel and Alexander.
