It’s the end of an era. Dr. Zahid Saqib is officially hanging up his stethoscope in Carmi after 56 years. Patients, current and former are invited to a community farewell and retirement party from 2p-4p Monday, March 31st at the Plum Street Doctor’s Clinic. He’s been an institution in Carmi and has treated thousands of patients over the last 56 years. Those thousands of patients have a township supervisor who was on a trip to a Chicago fair to thank for getting Saqib to the area.
Well there used to be a township supervisor, Jim Merritt. He went to a fair in Chicago and a friend of mine told me they were looking for a doctor. So I said ok, I’ll give him a call. I was in Peoria at the time. So, from there I talked to him; he said ‘come down and see how our town is. We had a doctor here forever but we lost him so I think this area would serve you good. It’s a good area, good people’. I said ok, I’ll come down. So that’s how I got here. I basically liked the area because I grew up in a rural area myself.
That was 1979. Saqib also has the distinction of being one of, if not the last practicing physicians that delivered babies at the Carmi hospital, though he’s quick to point out it was not an enviable position he found himself in.
That was not by choice…[laughter]…that’s because when you’re on call, you do what you have to do. I delivered maybe two or three babies but that was when none of the other doctors were there and I was the only one and I would do that, but not by choice. That was one of those things that I did…that was not in my practice. It just so happened that I was in ER and the other doctors were not available and I said ok, well I have to go do this thing too.
You can’t talk about Dr. Saqib without recognizing the importance of his wife Bushra. She’s been integral to his longevity, success, and organization as the mother to the couple’s six children, office manager, and unintended cultural integrator for the community.
She was the manager, she was doing everything…she raised 6 kids. All of them went to Carmi High School…thank God they did well…all of them graduated from the University of Illinois. All these years, she’s been the one. She’s brought up the kids, run the practice, taken care of everything. I don’t think I would’ve been able to practice here [without her]. Knowing people, she knows more people than I do. She’s got that personality and can make friends easily. I mean, I owe her a lot.
In his semi-retirement (he’s still going to be seeing a light load of patients in the Evansville area), Saqib says he’s hoping to play more golf and do some traveling to see parts of the USA he hasn’t had time to up to this point. He remains humble and says after it all, he thinks he’s been given more by the community than he’s given himself…a modest reflection, but one with which most of his patients would disagree.
