The world is gleaming with brighter future with young people taking over the reigns. Yesterday a new history was made in Palestine with a 21-year girl becoming the youngest doctor in that region She graduated from the Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatr (WCMC -Q. The gifted child started his medical school at a mere age of 14 and completed at the age of 20. Iqbal’s favourite pastime is reading or solving a mathematics equation.
The youngest doctor grew up in Bar Elias, a small village in the Bekaa valley. The genius girl was so much good in her education that she learned algebra by sitting with her older siblings while they did their homework. Also, she at the age of 12, she topped in her high school education and by the age of 13, Iqbal secured a scholarship to study medicine in Qatar.
The girl has noble dreams to keep everyone healthy and secure. Seeing people suffering in the Palestine refugee camps inspired her to become a doctor, “Since I was very young, I really wanted to help people. My family did not live in a camp, but we had family members who did and I used to visit them, I became aware that they had a lot of medical needs and I felt that the best way to help them would be by providing family healthcare.” said the young doctor.Iqbal dreams of opening a free clinic for the Palestinian refugees in the camps in Lebnan.
The parents of the young doctor are equally delighted, this is what her father said on the occasion of her daughter being conferred with the Medical Doctor certificate. “I used to teach my children words and numbers to prepare them for school, but I never taught Iqbal to count. She would watch her siblings closely and learn from them,” tells her father, Mahmoud Omar El Assaad.
Becoming a doctor is difficult but having such noble dreams is rather much more difficult. Kudos to her spirit.