Two Mumbai doctors held on to Jinnah’s secret for decades set to receive Pakistan’s highest civilian award

Two doctors from Mumbai are set to receive Pakistan’s highest civilian honour for a decision they made nearly eight decades ago that was kept away from the public eye. Dr Jal Ratanji Patel and Dr Jal Dhaybho-Koo, both members of Mumbai’s Parsi community, have been nominated for the Nishan-e-Imtiaz for maintaining the confidentiality of Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s serious health condition during the politically sensitive period preceding Partition. This comes decades after the two doctors examined Jinnah in 1946. Their medical assessment reportedly found that his tuberculosis had reached an advanced stage and that he might have had only a year or two to live.

At a time when Jinnah was at the centre of negotiations over the future of British India, the information about his deteriorating health was considered extremely sensitive. The doctors chose not to disclose what they had found, keeping the diagnosis restricted to a small circle.

Who were the two doctors?

Dr Jal Ratanji Patel was a physician, while Dr Jal Dhaybho-Koo specialised in radiology. Both were based in Bombay, now Mumbai, and became involved in assessing Jinnah’s health in 1946. After examining Jinnah’s X-ray, the doctors reportedly concluded that his tuberculosis was considerably more advanced than was publicly known. Their assessment indicated that the disease could significantly limit his lifespan. The diagnosis was never made public at the time. Instead, the two doctors maintained the confidentiality of their findings while Jinnah continued to play a central role in the political negotiations of the period.

Why was Jinnah’s health so politically sensitive?

Jinnah was leading the demand for a separate homeland for Muslims when the doctors assessed his condition. His health was therefore not simply a private medical matter in the context of the political turmoil surrounding India’s independence. Jinnah had been suffering from tuberculosis since the 1930s. This was decades before modern antibiotic treatment became widely available for the disease. Only a handful of people were reportedly aware of the seriousness of his condition. Historical accounts have suggested that if senior British and Indian leaders negotiating the future of the subcontinent had known that Jinnah was terminally ill, their political calculations could potentially have been different.

What does Pakistan say about the doctors?

The decision by the two doctors to keep the diagnosis confidential is now being cited by Pakistan as the reason for their recognition. Pakistan’s Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal, who heads the country’s Awards Committee, announced their nomination for the Nishan-e-Imtiaz.

In a post on X, Iqbal praised the doctors for what he described as an extraordinary act of professional discretion and said they had ensured that the seriousness of Jinnah’s illness remained known only to people within his inner circle.

“I feel honoured to have had the privilege, as Chairman of the Awards Committee, of nominating for the Nishan-e-Imtiaz two remarkable doctors, a physician and a radiologist, both members of Bombay’s Parsi community, who faithfully guarded the secret of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s terminal illness,” Iqbal wrote on X. The award ceremony is scheduled to take place in March next year.

Jinnah died a year after Pakistan was created

It is to be noted here that Jinnah’s health continued to deteriorate as the political transition from British India to the newly created Pakistan unfolded. Pakistan became an independent country on August 14, 1947, with Jinnah emerging as its first Governor-General. He died on September 11, 1948, around 13 months after independence. His death was attributed to pulmonary tuberculosis. The severity of his illness had remained largely concealed throughout the final years of his political life. 

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