PESHAWAR, Jan 30: Family members, friends and students paid rich tribute to Dr Ghayur Ahmad Khan, the founder of first homoeopathy degree college in the country, at a gathering here on Sunday.

They also announced to set up Ghayur Trust to serve people in the fields of education and health. They appreciated his decades-long work and termed him father of homoeopathy in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Dr (Capt) Ghayur Ahmad Khan, a resident of Mardan district, set up the first homoeopathic college in the country and affiliated it with University of Peshawar.

He started working with former vice-chancellor of Engineering College Peshawar Obaidullah Durrani, known as Babaji. They used to sit under a tree every Sunday and treat people. He continued practicing homeopathy for about 60 years at his clinic in Saddar till his death at the age of 95.

His friends remembered him as a well-dressed man, who used to tread softly. “A very commanding personality when silent but friendly during discussions,” they recalled.

Col (retired) Iqbal Shaheen, his eldest son and vice principal of Frontier Homeopathic Medical College Peshawar, narrated his father's transformation from a soldier into a homeopathic doctor.

He informed the gathering that Dr Ghayur suffered a heart attack after the death of his father but he was cured by homeopathic medicines.

“Since then, he made it a mission of his life to learn and practice homeopathy to treat other people,” he said. He continued to do so till he breathed his last on Dec 20, 2010, Col Iqbal said.

Besides imparting knowledge of homeopathy to his students at the college, Dr Ghayur also published a book 'Radio Doctor' consisted of his advices to people during a programme of Radio Pakistan for about 12 years.

“Charging more than Rs50 from a patient was considered sinful by him so countless of his patients would not pay for treatment. Some would instead receive money for journey back to home,” Col Iqbal said.

Hakeem Mufti Sadiq Anees, assistant of Hakeem Saeed and a friend of Dr Ghayur, said that he was honest with his profession and treated patients free of cost. He would charge only nominally for medicines.

Maj-Gen (retired) Anwar Sher Khan remembered Dr Ghayur as a brave colleague.

Dr Manzoor, Prof Jehangir Durrani, Qasim Jan and Dr Khalid Masood Qureshi also remembered Dr Ghayyur as a man dedicated to the field of homeopathy.

Usman Ali Shah, one of his friends, who still keeps medicines prescribed by his friend and doctor, described Dr Ghayur in the following words.

His life was gentle, and the elements So mixed in him that Nature might stand up and say to the world, 'This was a man!'