USA: Dr Maryam Shoukat, a 27-year-old Pakistani doctor pursuing her residency in the United States, has tragically passed away just thirty minutes before her scheduled liver transplant. She had been admitted in critical condition with acute liver failure at Rutgers University Hospital in Newark, New Jersey. Having travelled to the US with dreams of serving humanity, her life ended before she could fulfil that goal, leaving her family, colleagues, and the wider Pakistani community in deep shock.
Earlier this month, Dr Maryam’s health deteriorated rapidly after her liver suddenly failed, prompting an urgent search for a transplant. Doctors informed her family that only an immediate liver transplant could save her life. In desperation, her husband, Dr Hamza Zafar, reached out to APPNA — the Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent of North America — for assistance in meeting the enormous medical costs. Their appeal sparked a wave of support from Pakistani and medical communities across the US and abroad.
APPNA responded by launching an emergency fundraising campaign, raising an extraordinary $273,000 within just one day. The total reached close to $400,000 soon after, prompting the hospital to reduce the transplant cost from $900,000 to $450,000. APPNA immediately paid $100,000 to secure Dr Maryam’s place on the transplant list, and a matching donor liver was located soon afterward — a sign of hope for a patient whose condition had become increasingly dire.
Tragically, just as she was about to be wheeled into the operating room for the life-saving procedure, Dr Maryam’s condition suddenly worsened. Despite medical efforts, she passed away only thirty minutes before the transplant could begin. Her death has been described as a devastating loss for her family and the Pakistani medical community, as well as a poignant reminder of the financial and logistical barriers patients can face in accessing critical healthcare in the United States.
