Shahida Malik
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Major General Dr. Shahida Malik (born March 5, 1946) is the first lady from Islamic World and South Asia who became a General in Pakistan Army. Presently, she is Inspector-General of Hospitals, Pakistan Army. With her husband Major General Asad Malik, Commandant, Army Medical College, Rawalpindi, Pakistan, she completes the first pair of Generals as well.
Dr Shahida Malik is from the medical corps, who had the badges of the rank of major general pinned on her shoulders at a simple ceremony at GHQ, Rawalpindi, on June 17. The mother of three children has achieved this enviable position after 32 years of service in the army. Dr Shahida was selected for promotion at a meeting of the Selection Board for the promotion of brigadiers to the rank of major-general held at GHQ on February 1. The meeting was presided over by the Chief of Army Staff, General Pervez Musharraf. Out of the 132 brigadiers considered by the Selection Board, 27 were deemed to merit promotion to major general, and Dr Shahida was the only woman. Dr Shahida was previously Deputy Commandant of the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology/ National Institute of Heart Disease, Rawalpindi. With her new rank, she now takes on the new challenge of the post of Inspector-General of Hospitals. Her duties require her to visit regularly, with an inspection team, all of the 31 hospitals of the Pakistan Army scattered throughout the country, to suggest improvements in their functioning and oversee the implementation of new projects.
[edit] Education
After topping in her studies through out in school and college and graduating from Fatima Jinnah Medical College in 1969 with a distinction in surgery and a gold medal award, she went on to pursue a career in the army. She even completed an advanced medical post-graduate course in administration at the age of 50.
[edit] Life
Both her father and then husband also in the Pakistan Army - her father was in the Military Estate Service (MES) at GHQ, and her husband, Major General Asad Malik, is currently the Commandant, Army Medical College, Rawalpindi - the army was the natural choice for Dr Shahida to pursue a career. All this while she raised a family of three children and looked after her parents and mother-in-law. And if success in the latter two family tasks can be quantified, she can be said to have achieved equal distinction in her career. Her three children are all now doctors, and her parents and mother-in-law lived with her until a ripe old age. Her eldest daughter, a 1997 graduate from Fatima Jinnah Medical College, is working in a hospital in Washington in the United States. Her only son, a 1998 graduate of King Edward Medical College, is also working in a hospital in Philadelphia in the US. The youngest has just recently graduated from Fatima Jinnah Medical College. The most difficult period for her was when her children were small and her husband was pursuing his career as a surgeon, also in the army. She had wanted to specialize in her field, which was radiology, but decided that her first and foremost duty was to her family and her home. So she took on a job that was less demanding, as a general duty medical officer, whereshe could be home by two in the afternoon. Her elder sister is now teaching at the University of Alabama in America, and her younger sister is the PTV newscaster, Shaista Zaid.
