As Pakistan was approaching the half-century mark of its existence, a small group of doctors sowed the seeds of developing the sub-speciality of Rheumatology in the country; a development which other countries had been enjoying for the last several decades already.

Rheumatic diseases are the single largest cause of physical disability in all cultures of the world. The amount of working days lost due to such diseases and the consequent loss to the national and the patient’s domestic economy is huge. Thus far, the health planners in Pakistan have neglected this field in favour of concentrating on infectious and cardiac diseases. Perhaps the meagre health resources do not permit us to allocate funds to other ailments. These are trying times for our country and it falls upon individuals with a sense of national duty to chip in with their contributions. It is with this ideology that the Pakistan Society for Rheumatology was formed.

About PSR

The Pakistan Society for Rheumatology is a pioneering platform which was formed in 1995, with a view to enhance the knowledge about rheumatic diseases in Pakistan and to encourage further development of expertise in this field. It took its roots from the Pakistan Rheumatic Society which was started in Karachi in 1970, by a group of leading doctors. These physicians were themselves not formally trained in this field but realized the responsibility of ensuring the inclusion of Pakistan’s name in international forums.

Even though initially the activities within Pakistan remained confined to sporadic meetings in Karachi itself, people like Dr S.R.A. Kirmani and Dr. Samad Shera kept the beacon of hope alive from and within Pakistan. It was in the early 1990’s that a small group of Rheumatologists who had trained in the UK and USA returned to Pakistan with the commitment to introduce advanced Rheumatology education and care. With the blessing of the old guard, the flame was passed on to the new generation and since then there has been no looking back.

The first set of office bearers included Dr. Azra Ali (President), Dr. Khurram Manzoor Chowdhry (President-elect), Dr. Abid Farooqi (General Secretary), Dr Kamran Hameed (Joint Secretary) and Dr. Shahid Abbas (Finance Secretary). These representatives succeeded in getting the credentials of the Society accepted internationally within a few months and the PSR was registered as the representative national society from Pakistan among the International League of Associations for Rheumatology (ILAR).

Annual scientific meetings have been organized in Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore with participation from internationally famous rheumatologists from abroad and the stage is set for producing respectable opinion leaders available within our own country. Within this short span of time a number of international publications of original scientific research have appeared in leading rheumatology journals and Pakistan’s name is beginning to be credible in the world of Rheumatology today.

Objectives:

• To promote the development of scientific knowledge about the medical specialty of rheumatology
• To create awareness about rheumatic diseases in general population and their treatment.
• To establish liaison with similar societies abroad.
• Organization of facilities to study and treat rheumatic diseases.