As a student of Government Medical College, Srinagar in the turbulent 90’s, I witnessed its struggle and survival amid chaos and trauma. The college was held together by a bunch of brave men and women who worked in difficult situations and kept the candle of medical education burning in Kashmir. I remember Dr. Hamid Ali Durrani as one such professor who stood firm in those troubling times, doing what he loved the most- teaching medicine and treating patients. I have a vivid memory of his clinical classes in one of the rooms adjacent to the cardiology ward of SMHS hospital where he would sit with poise and charm and we all would stand around him in an arc- all aware, awake and attentive. He would listen to us, correct us, teach us about history taking and clinical examination. Soft and serene, polite and focused-his clinical class had an aura of its own. It was wholesome, informative and interesting.

Fate had brought Dr. Durrani to Kashmir for service that would be remembered by generations of his students and his ever-thankful patients. Born in Ballia, UP on March 7th, 1934, to Mr. Nadir Ali Khan Durrani and Hamida Begum, Dr. Durrani studied at Lucknow Christian College. He was a bright alumnus of the prestigious King George Medical College (KGMC) Lucknow where he completed his MBBS and MD Medicine. He met his future wife, Dr. Masarat-a Kashmiri medico pursuing medicine at KGMC and after marriage, shifted to Kashmir. He joined GMC Srinagar in 1966 as an Assistant Professor of Medicine and continued to work there till his retirement in 1992 as a professor.

The field of medicine in this part of the world is seen as tough and is........

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