Zarine Mogal
Pakistan Pakistan
About
Dr Zarine Ratansha Mogal is a neurologist/epileptologist working selflessly for more than 25 years towards holistic management of 2.2 million people with epilepsy, especially the poor in Pakistan. She has been awarded International League Against Epilepsy-Asian and Oceania’s highest, Outstanding Achievement Epilepsy Award in recognition of her extraordinary contributions towards Epilepsy Care. She is the first recipient of Epilepsy Society of Australia’s regional scholarship for Fellowship in Clinical Epileptology.
The award citation by Prof. John Dunne, President, ILAE-Asia Oceania summarizes her huge body of work well.
“… She is a visionary leader and has devoted herself to the epilepsy movement in Pakistan. She is President, Epilepsy Association of Pakistan (ILAE-Chapter) and Secretary, Epilepsy Support Pakistan (IBE-Chapter). She co-heads the NGO-run National Epilepsy Centre in Karachi which is the only designated epilepsy care centre in Pakistan, run by volunteers. Zarine wears many hats to provide integrated holistic services to people with epilepsy especially the poor. She is not only a consultant treating patients and trained neurophysiologist reporting electroencephalograms but is an excellent teacher, clinical researcher, a meticulous organizer of educational and awareness activities, an active fundraiser for the centre required for provision of near-free treatment with medicines. She is presently setting up the first ever prolonged video EEG/telemetry lab which will be the stepping stone towards future epilepsy surgery, for which she is actively seeking donations. Zarine takes care of epilepsy patients from far off cities, towns and border villages through e-communication and is planning to set up regular tele-clinics for them. She personally handles the social media due to lack of resources, financial and human. Her contribution towards public awareness and fighting epilepsy stigma has been enormous. She visits the country’s remotest areas for awareness activities, patient management and training of doctors despite the difficulties imposed by the traditional patriarchal society in which the role of women can be very restricted. …”
In 2021-22 Zarine has been nominated Member-ILAE Education Council, Executive Board Member-ILAE-Asia Oceania, Member-ILAE-AO Asian Epilepsy Academy, Member-ILAE’s Standards & Best Practices (S&BP) and Co-Chair, S&BP Council’s Implementation & Education Task Force. Her mentor Prof. Hasan Aziz states that it is really creditable for someone who lives and works in a low-income country like Pakistan to achieve these international posts.
Zarine works for the Govt. of Sindh Health Department, for three decades. She consciously chose to work at a secondary care hospital to facilitate the poor people. Here she has set up and running the neurology and neurophysiology unit, the first ever in a public secondary care hospital
Zarine is a multi-tasker with various interest. Kalaam-i-Aarifaan – Poetries of Mystics & Sufis is her unique non-medical project in which she has transliterated and translated poetries to English.
Zarine has always introduced herself to the international epilepsy community as a proud Zoroastrian Pakistani, having pleasantly changed their perspective on women and minorities in Pakistan.
Zarine has been serving Karachi Zarthosti Banoo Mandal’s medical subcommittee for over two and a half decades.
