Pakistan remembers its 'Mother Teresa' Dr Ruth Pfau on birth anniversary.

The birth anniversary of Dr Ruth Pfau, the German doctor who dedicated her life to eradicating leprosy in Pakistan, was observed on Monday across the country.

Hailed as the Mother Teresa of Pakistan, Dr Pfau was born in 1929 in Germany's Leipzig. A student of medicine, she was sent to India in 1960 by her order, the Daughters of the Heart of Mary, but was stuck in Karachi owing to visa issues. It was during this time that she first became aware of leprosy.

Later in 1961, Dr Pfau went to India only to return to Pakistan, where she started a campaign to contain leprosy, a mildly contagious bacterial infection. She trained Pakistani doctors and attracted foreign donations, building leprosy clinics across the country.

Dr Pfau joined the Marie Adelaide Leprosy Center (MALC) and soon transformed it into the hub of a network of 157 medical centres that treated tens of thousands of Pakistanis...