Srinagar, Dec 23: On a quiet winter day at SKIMS, four new haemodialysis beds came alive, not merely as machines plugged into a hospital ward, but as the culmination of a family’s unfulfilled dreams, lived pain, and enduring faith.
For Dr Sabina Qayoom and her brother, Er Showkat Qayoom Khan, the inauguration was not about philanthropy or public recognition. It was about closure, and about continuity.
Their father had lived with kidney disease long enough to understand the crushing emotional and financial toll of dialysis. A renal transplant patient himself, he had witnessed firsthand how families crumble under recurring hospital visits and escalating costs. Somewhere between treatments and hospital corridors, he formed a quiet resolve, one day, I will build a dialysis centre for the poor.
That dream remained unfinished.
During a surgery complicated by a heart condition, he passed away, leaving behind not just grief, but a purpose, one that his children would eventually embrace as their own.
Years later, the pain resurfaced when their mother was admitted to the very hospital where the new dialysis units now stand. In her final days, she needed nephrology support, but the facility did not have functional dialysis machines. She had to be shifted elsewhere. Before her passing, she expressed a simple but powerful wish, make sure no other patient suffers like this again.
What began as a vision in the father’s illness and took shape in the mother’s last experience became a mission for their children. Instead of building a private dialysis centre, something that would have inevitably come with user fees and limited reach, the siblings made a deliberate choice. They donated four fully equipped haemodialysis units directly to SKIMS Bemina, ensuring treatment would remain accessible. “If we had built it privately, people would have had to pay,” Dr Sabina says. “Here, in a government hospital, it benefits everyone, especially the middle and lower-middle classes who depend on public healthcare.”
The decision to donate to SKIMS Bemina was also strategic. Located centrally, the hospital caters to patients from every district of Kashmir. A private centre in their native South Kashmir, Awantipora, would have helped only a limited region. At SKIMS Bemina, the impact multiplies. “He had seen suffering up close,” Showkat recalls of his father. “He knew what it meant for an ordinary family to survive on dialysis.” That understanding shaped Showkat’s resolve. After their father’s untimely death during surgery due to cardiac complications, the siblings were left with both grief and a question, what do we do with the dream he couldn’t complete?
The contribution came entirely from family savings, money belonging to their parents. There was no government funding involved. Yet, the siblings are quick to acknowledge that the project would not have been possible without institutional support. They credit SKIMS Director Dr Ashraf Ganai for his cooperation, along with Principal Dr Faisal and senior medical faculty, including Dr Muzaffar and Dr Tariq, for pushing the initiative forward and turning intent into infrastructure. For Shaukat Qayoom Khan, an engineer now managing the family business, the effort was deeply personal. “He has contributed even more than me,” Dr Sabina says, deflecting attention away from herself, as siblings often do.
As the dialysis ward now hums with activity, the siblings find solace not in public applause but in quiet belief that somewhere beyond the visible world, their parents are at peace. “Physically they are not here,” Dr Sabina reflects, “but I can sense their souls are happy. InshaAllah, this will benefit them in the afterlife.”
Their message to Kashmir is simple and direct, step forward. “Healthcare here is still not advanced enough,” she says. “It is the duty of every Kashmiri youth to help, especially the poor.”
Back home, among family and relatives, the response has been one of pride and support. The siblings hope their act will inspire others, not necessarily to donate machines, but to see public service as a shared responsibility. At SKIMS, four dialysis beds now stand as living memorials, not engraved with names but sustained by purpose. They are reminders that sometimes, the most lasting tributes are not built in stone but in service to those who need it most.
