Dr Nasir Ali, who has recently been awarded Jammu & Kashmir’s first Tribal Award for “outstanding achievement in professional education,” believes the recognition will greatly motivate Kashmiri youngsters to pursue excellence.
The UT’s first interventional cardiologist from a tribal community, Dr Ali has many distinctions to his name, including having performed some rare and complex surgeries.
Dr Nasir Ali has taken part in hundreds of free cardiac check-up camps at old age homes, schools, ashram, gurudwara, in rural and border areas, military and paramilitary camps and even frontline outposts of RS Pura and Samba sectors
He works as consultant cardiologist at the Government Super Speciality Hospital, Jammu, but does a great deal of work outside of those walls too.
Dr Ali has attended and organised around 300 free cardiac health check-up camps at old age homes, schools, ashram, gurudwara, in rural and border areas, military and paramilitary camps and even frontline outposts of RS Pura and Samba sectors.
The cardiologist has multiple research publications to his credit. He has also written two books and presented papers at leading international conferences.
Dr Ali remembers his journey from a far-flung village to his current stature. “I have faced many hardships before acquiring my skills,” he says. Born in Bhalwal tehsil of Jammu district, he recalls his long walks to the nearest transport system from his remote village.
Dr Ali is a true son of the soil and finished most of his education in Jammu & Kashmir. While at Government Ranbir School, he always achieved distinction. He also cracked his entrance test in the first attempt, completing MBBS from the oldest medical college of the state, the prestigious Government Medical College, Srinagar. He went on to do MD (Medicine) from Sher-I-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences.
The cardiologist only ventured out of his native state for super-specialisation — a Diplomate of National Board in Cardiology from Medanta, The Medicity in Gurgaon.
Dr Ali hopes to “continue to serve society with the same zeal and zest in the coming years too,” saying, “I am thankful to the jury for acknowledging our hard work and for bestowing the honour at this point of time.”
