Islamabad: Dr Chris Schmotzer, a German physician who has dedicated over 30 years of her life to the treatment and control of leprosy in Pakistan, has been honoured with the highest German award.
German Ambassador to Pakistan Bernhard Schlagheck, on behalf of the President of Germany, awarded Dr Schmotzer the Order of Merit at a ceremony held at the German Embassy in Islamabad.
The honour is the highest tribute the Federal Republic of Germany bestowed upon individuals for their outstanding services, the official statement said.
At the award ceremony, Schlagheck described Dr Schmotzer as an exemplary role model for philanthropists all over the world as she devoted her life to the service of humanity.
“In Rawalpindi and beyond, she is widely known and respected as a compassionate and a devoted medical doctor who always gives priority to the treatment of sick and needy people” he shared. As a token of appreciation of the German Federal President for tireless work to humanity, “I gladly hand over the Cross of Merit to Dr Chris Schmotzer,” he announced.
Pakistan’s chief health adviser, Dr Faisal Sultan, also attended the ceremony, lauded the work of Dr Schmotzer and her team. He expressed gratitude for her tireless service to the people of Pakistan.
German sister
Dr Schmotzer is famously known in Pakistan as the “German Sister” – a title associated with her being a member of the German Protestant Sisterhood of Christ-Bearers. She arrived in Pakistan, as a young woman, soon after finishing her medical studies in 1988 and since then she has been contributed to fighting leprosy and tuberculosis in Pakistan.
As director of the Rawalpindi Leprosy Hospital, she has been serving the Pakistani people, offering treatment to patients with leprosy, tuberculosis, eye and skin diseases as well as rehabilitation services.
The German sister also collaborated with Dr Ruth Pfau, another German medical missionary hailed as the “Mother Teresa of Pakistan” for her crucial role in containing leprosy in Pakistan. Dr Ruth was honored with a state funeral in Pakistan in 2017 in appreciation of her humanitarian services.
Dr Schmotzer has been providing leprosy patients with medical care and counseling at Rawalpindi Leprosy Hospital – established in 1904 by an American professor for treatment and as a shelter for leprosy patients.
German doctors have been serving at the medical center since 1966. When Dr Schmotzer first came to Pakistan nearly three decades ago, she “found that people consider leprosy to be an incurable disease” and ever since she has been working “to make people understand that this is just another skin disease which needs proper care and regular medication.”