Dr. Mohammad Shujath Ullah – An Unsung Hero

“I was awful at academics. I’d never attend classes at school. Getting me to study was impossible for Ammi. She tried everything from pitai to pleads and prayers. Par humse padhai na hui. It wasn’t until the 5th standard that I learnt to write the alphabet.

When I entered 10th standard everyone around me went ‘Ye toh iss baar pass nahi hoga’. At this point even Ammi, Abbu gave up. But, I didn’t. I wanted to study, iss baar mujhe fail nahi hona tha. I’d study for 20 hours a day and I passed the exams! Thereon I never failed; Until, 3rd year of college when I got a backlog. Soon, I started my preparation and just like ammi, iss baar maine bhi ek dua maangli – ‘If I pass this exam, I’ll feed 10 strangers’.

The results came and I passed! I was on cloud 9. That very evening, I went to distribute food to strangers at the station. Watching the number of people who’d sleep hungry is when reality hit me. Until then I only knew about scores in academics but feeding them felt like I scored in life. So, I continued the distribution drives. I’d distribute at least 3-4 times a week. But, during my master’s, I got occupied in the evenings. However, I didn’t want to stop with the drives. Then I thought ‘Instead of ending my day with the drives, why don’t I begin my day with it?’

The next morning I cooked 3kgs of Upma and proceeded towards Niloufer Hospital. On my way I only had one thought running in my mind ‘Will the people there accept the food?’ And they did. Nearly 150-200 people showed up. Most of them were people from remote areas who’d come there for treatment. They had a lot on their plate, par uss plate par sirf khane ki kami thi. So, I decided to go there every single morning.

Even during the lockdown, when nobody wanted to be in the proximity of a hospital, our drives didn’t stop. We even started supplying oxygen cylinders to the needy.

I often get asked ‘Why do you not miss a single day?’ Then I think of the people who are starving at the hospital. Now, everyone knows that I visit every morning. No matter how their day was, they know that subah toh khana milega. This is the only hope in their times of agony. Agar mai ruk gaya toh kaise chalega.”

Dr. Shujath has been providing free Breakfast for over 1000 people since 1700 days without missing a single day.He has also Started Charitable diagnostic Centre at Barkatpura Hyderabad.