Meet Our Staff: Nurse Mussarat Parveen

“I come from a village where girls often don’t go to colleges, but it was my father’s dream that I become a nurse and a strong independent woman.”

Mussarat Parveen is a Breast Specialist Nurse and Nursing Lecturer at Shaukat Khanum Hospital. As a young woman from a rural village where girls did not go to college, Mussarat was inspired to fulfil her father’s dream of pursuing an education in medicine. She’s dedicated her life to patient care and training others. Mussarat shared her interesting story with us when we interviewed her recently.

Mussarat, can you tell us why you decided to become a nurse?

“I come from a village where girls often don’t go to college, but it was my father’s dream that I become a nurse and a strong independent woman. I was determined to make his dream a reality even if it meant taking a train to reach college. In 1989, I completed my diploma in nursing and started working at a hospital.”

That’s amazing – coming from a small village and achieving a higher qualification all those years ago. Then, what happened?

“Around one year later, I went to the Middle East after my marriage and worked at a hospital there. In 2005, I returned to Pakistan and decided to join the Shaukat Khanum Hospital in Lahore because of its high standard of care and the environment provided to healthcare practitioners. I wanted an environment where I could utilise my training to the best of my abilities. At this hospital, I had the opportunity to work on my professional growth and I specialised in oncology nursing.”

We encourage all our nursing staff to continue studying and it’s great that someone with your experience and qualifications is now involved in training. But you still perform your duties as a nurse, is that right?

“Yes. I work as a breast care nurse now while I also teach students in our nursing education programmes. Some nurses opt out of seeing patients when they start teaching, but I chose to continue with patient care because this is my passion. It is a great soul-touching feeling to be able to help patients directly after listening to their concerns.”

It must be very fulfilling to help your patients – not just as a nurse, seeing to their physical and medical treatment needs, but also as a confidante – someone patients can talk to.

“Sometimes, lending patients an empathetic ear can mean the difference between life and death. I remember a breast cancer patient who was hesitant to undergo advised treatment; because chemotherapy meant the loss of hair and surgery involved mastectomy in her case. She was also concerned about society’s reaction to her altered physical appearance.”

“I did not want to give up on her. I showed her ways in which support was available for her in the form of a breast prosthesis as well as a wig, and I told her to take a trusted family member into her confidence during this journey. After that discussion, she changed her mind and completed the recommended treatment. She survived. Experiences like these during patient care are priceless.”

Mussarat is just one of our many nurses who go above and beyond the call of duty by treating all our patients with utmost dedication and compassion. They are at the frontline of patient care and are there to give comfort to family members too. But they cannot continue their life-saving work without your support. Learn more about our hospitals and the free care we provide to 75% of patients. Supporting us means saving lives. Donate below.