A well respected former Leeds GP has been awarded an MBE by the Queen for his services to the Muslim community and community cohesion.
Dr. Shah Khan, 84, moved to England from Hyderabad in India in the 1960’s and has made it his mission ever since to bring the community together no matter what their religion, alongside being a practicing GP.
He came over to England to study at the Royal College of Gynaecologists in London before starting out working in hospitals in Leeds before later setting up his own GP with his wife Abida, which has since been overtaken by his son following their retirement.
He has three children and further grandchildren and they are all following in the family tradition as they are also studying medical related subjects at highly esteemed Universities in the country, with his son and daughter in law practicing GP’s in Leeds.
Dr. Khan also does an incredible amount of work for his local community, and is a well-respected figure who people go to for advice and help from. He prides himself on being there for anyone who needs him.
This is reflected by his work as the chairman of the Islamic Centre in Leeds which he has been for over 30 years, a place which he helped gain the original planning permission for and has since served as a place for a variety of age groups and people to use.
The facility has proved a major feature of the local community bringing people together and allowing people to create friendships, Dr. Khan explained his involvement he said: “I like to give advice to the local community and be helpful to all the community no matter who they are.
“I believe they come to me because of my sincerity and honesty. There is a good group at the Islamic Centre which helps the development for the Muslim community in Leeds. The team do a lot of good work including General Secretary Mohammed Younis.
“I helped to establish the only Mosque with a facility for the elderly, children and school groups, it has since been supported by the council and is a success, I have been chair of the Islamic group since 1983.”
Dr. Khan also prides himself on doing charitable work for causes in need displaying his selfless nature, he said: “I’ve done a lot of charitable work over the years raising thousands of pounds for causes in Pakistan which have suffered in natural disasters such as floods and earthquakes, as well as other needy causes.”
Over the years Dr. Khan has also devoted his time to training up fellow doctors, he spent years as Chairman of the Overseas Doctors Association until his recent retirement.
In this role, he used to organise lectures to help train them up so they were readily qualified, in this time he built up good rapport with local consultants, he would increase their knowledge of what treatments and drugs to prescribe amongst other important roles.
Dr. Khan also was Chairman of the Yorkshire India Centre which was mostly built up of doctors, they did a lot of community work. He was also the chair of council at the Mosque which he was for 10-20 years.
He was also involved with the beginning of the Union of Muslim Organisation in which he was a part of for 10 years at the beginning where they looked to unite all Muslims from all countries.
In more recent times Dr. Khan has managed to find the time to add another community based service to his highly esteemed repertoire as he has trained to be an English Marriage Registrar. Dr. Khan spoke of his quirky new skill he said.
“It’s unique for the Muslim community but I think it is special being able to support the community and give people the opportunity to go through a proper English way of marriage in a Mosque, I follow the rules and regulations and feel it is a good thing that is important for the community.”
