Meet Dr Saleema Rehman as part of our series “Inspirational You, Awesome Sisters United” about women in medicine achieving incredible things in today’s world. Saleema is a young Afghan doctor working in Pakistan who has overcome cultural expectations to achieve remarkable feats.
She is the
- First Female Refugee Doctor from Afghanistan’s Turkmen ethnic group
- Winner of the UN Refugee Agency Nansen Award laureate for Asia in 2021 bestowed annually in recognition of outstanding service to the cause of refugees, displaced, or stateless people
Doctor Saleema
Saleema’s father, Abdul Rehman, fled Afghanistan in 1979 amidst Soviet War. Along with thousands of other displaced people, he found shelter in a refugee camp in Pakistan.
It was here that Saleema was born and raised. Saleema’s mother suffered severe complications during childbirth and the traditional midwife present told the family that she didn’t know if the baby would survive. Her father vowed that if she did, he would ensure she became a doctor.
In the Turkmen community, to which Saleema’s family belonged, the education of women was not traditionally prioritised. Girls were taught to be carpet weavers at home and promised to arranged marriages at a young age.
Many conservative members of Saleema’s community told her father not to send her to school because it might have a negative influence on the other girls, tempting them to study.
Unperturbed by widespread disapproval, Abdul referred to his daughter as “Doctor Saleema” from her first day at nursery. He worked day and night selling fruits and making carpet designs to support his family, and he sent Saleema to school.
She had to learn Urdu to understand her teachers and when she entered secondary school Saleema was the only girl in her class.
Challenges & Hurdles
Upon graduating high school, Saleema remained determined to become a doctor. However, she encountered many bureaucratic hurdles in her application for medical school.
She was refused admission due to her refugee status and had to wait 2 years to apply for the only reserved seat for Afghan refugees in Pakistan’s Punjab Province. This necessitated travel to different cities to complete examinations and paperwork. Saleema recalls that there was no one to guide her as not many Afghan refugee women had done this before.
She secured a highly competitive place at Rawalpindi Medical School and applied for scholarships to cover her tuition fees. But on entering university she faced the further challenge of having to live without her family for the first time. Something that is unusual for women of her culture.
A Stellar Career
In 2015, Saleema completed her Bachelor’s degree in Medicine and Surgery, and became the first-ever female Afghan refugee doctor of Turkmen origin.
She began her residency at the Holy Family Hospital in Rawalpindi, a large public sector hospital where she treated both locals and patients from Afghanistan.
In 2017, she secured the only available specialist training post for Afghan Refugees and chose to pursue a career in Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
“I was living my dream, working with pregnant women, delivering babies.”
2020, the final year of Saleema’s training, brought the full force of the COVID-19 Pandemic. The Holy Family Hospital was declared a COVID-19 Response Centre and Saleema found herself caring for countless critically ill pregnant mothers.
Many had contracted the virus because they could not afford to isolate. In addition to saving mothers and babies, Saleema worked with communities to dispel myths about vaccination programmes and encourage prevention through personal hygiene.
In 2021, Saleema was granted a license to open her own private clinic in Attock. She now works here treating Afghan refugees and providing medical care for those most in need, often for free.
Saleema’s ability to speak their language is undoubtedly beneficial. Her goal is to expand her clinic hours to cover emergency care 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. However, to achieve this she needs more girls to be educated.
Role Model
“Whether I am in Afghanistan, Pakistan or anywhere else, I want to serve humanity with my whole heart.”
As a role model for many young Afghan girls, Dr Saleema Rehman visits schools to speak to young children, inspiring them to dream big and study hard.
Her story has helped to shift traditional attitudes towards girls’ education in her community. However, with Taliban rule once more in Afghanistan, Saleema fears for the women and girls being deprived of education there:
- There are currently over three million people displaced in Afghanistan, and a staggering 80 percent are women and children.
- When women do not have a chance to study or work, they are unavoidably reliant on men, without control over their own lives.
- Investing in education of women is not just an investment in that particular woman, but an investment in a whole future generation.
IYASU celebrates women in medicine and is committed to supporting girls’ education worldwide by donating 5% of our profits to The Malala Fund.
