PAKISTANI DOCTOR VISITS CAPE GIRARDEAU FRIEND, CONGREGATION

Dr. Pranila Lall brings many Pakistanis from a world of darkness into the light by restoring their vision.

But there lurks a danger that her own bright world could turn dark with just one word: If she talks too much about Christ or insults the prophet Mohammed, she could be whisked away to blasphemy court and convicted.

Lall is a Christian living in an Islamic nation filled with devout Muslims. She visited a colleague, Dr. Dan Cotner, in Cape Girardeau over the weekend before returning to Michigan to see her children and grandchildren.

Lall is not a native Pakistani nor a Muslim. After her marriage, Lall moved to Pakistan but had to forfeit her Indian citizenship to live and work in the country. She studied medicine in England.

Because things are so fragile now in the Mid-East nation, Lall and other Christians don't try to attract much attention to themselves.

"We keep a low profile and do the work we have been called to do," she said. "We have faith that the Lord will take care of us."

Lall is an opthamologist working at the Christian Presbyterian Hospital in Taxila, Pakistan. During her visit to Cape Girardeau, she also attended worship services at Westminster Presbyterian Church. She thanked the congregation for its support of her clinic. The members had donated money to the clinic to buy a YAG laser used for eye surgeries. The church congregation has had a relationship with the clinic for nearly 12 years, said the Rev. Miles White.

Lall and her husband are the first national doctors to work in the Taxila hospital since it was founded in 1922. Originally the hospital was run by Presbyterian missionaries from America.

Lall cares for many of the patients seeking corrective surgery for cataracts or other vision problems. Her husband, a urologist, is the hospital's director and performs most of the surgeries.

The medical world of Pakistan is much different from that in the United States. Most of the hospital surgeries are done at an outpatient clinic to help keep the costs low. And hospitals don't provide bedding or food to the patients. Relatives must care for their personal needs.

When patients arrive at the hospital campus, they line up days before they will have surgery. Many rent bed space and buy food at local markets because they must wait for days.

Since the hospital has grown famous for its surgeries, patients travel for days to reach Taxila. "Some are so weak they have to be carried by their relatives," she said. Many come from the northern borders of Afghanistan, and others come from the south near India.

The patients range from small children to older adults. Cataracts are the major vision complaint. Most patients wait until their vision is so poor they are nearly blind before coming to the clinic, Lall said.

The problem is particularly prevalent among women. Because women have such a low status in the Islamic world, most of her female patients can only see light or dark when they arrive at the clinic.

A man will bring his three sons in for the surgery when they are just children, she said. But his daughter may be 16 before she comes to the clinic.

Once a family arrives, relatives will stand in line waiting to register the patient for surgery. If they are in serious pain, some will be seen immediately by a doctor.

Because there is such an overwhelming number of people seeking medical attention, the doctors at the clinic limit their surgeries to 300 a day, Lall explained. If they didn't, there would be as many as 1,500 people a day seeking care.

"It is the poor man's hospital," she said. Operations cost the equivalent of $30 and include a five-day stay, nursing care, the surgery, and a checkup each morning, Lall said.

The hospital staff tries to work efficiently, beginning their day at 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning. "It's a way of keeping the overhead less so the patient doesn't pay so much."

Many can't afford the needed surgeries. Buying food or bedding during their wait often uses up what little money they did have, she said.

But the rewards, despite their monetary value, come in seeing patients who are grateful for a doctor's care, Lall said.