Nation pays homage to Edhi on his second death anniversary

KARACHI: The nation across the country paid rich tributes to world-renowned philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi on his second death anniversary on Sunday (July 8).

Edhi, who founded the world's largest volunteer ambulance network, died on July 8, 2016 in Karachi after a prolonged illness, reported different TV channels Sunday.

The philanthropist may have been gone but his legacy lives on. Edhi, who was born in 1928, migrated to Pakistan in 1947 along with his family and dedicated his life to the poor from the age of 20 — when he himself was penniless in Karachi.

What started off as a free dispensary in 1951, went on to become the largest charity organisation in Pakistan. In his own words, Edhi "begged for donations" at the start of his work and "people gave".

From having one ambulance which he drove himself, the Edhi Foundation now has 2,400 ambulances and three air ambulances stationed across the country. In fact, in 1997 the Edhi Foundation entered the Guinness World Records as the "largest volunteer ambulance organisation".

The foundation also runs more than 300 welfare centres across the country that operate as food kitchens, rehabilitation homes, shelters for abandoned women and children and clinics for the mentally handicapped.

The Edhi Foundation also runs eight outpatient hospitals, a child adoption centre and morgues.

Edhi received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for public service in 1986 and was honoured with the Nishan-e-Imtiaz in 1989.

In 2013, Huffington Post reported in 2013 that he might be the world’s greatest humanitarian. His contributions earned him the recognition of ‘Angel of Mercy’. Edhi Foundation has rescued over 20,000 abandoned infants, trained over 40,000 nurses and taken care of not less than 50,000 orphans until now.

The foundation has the largest chain of shelters working across the countries with 330 centres. Ambulance service offered by the foundation is world‘s largest according to an estimate with over 600 vehicles dedicated for the purpose. The man lived in a room next to his office in one of the centres and owned two pairs of modest clothes. His place had a bed, a bathroom sink and a stove.

Edhi married a nurse, then working at one of the centres, Bilquis in 1965 and the couple had four children.

In 2013, doctors had told him that his kidneys had failed and he would survive using dialysis for the rest of his life unless he found a donor.

The world-famous philanthropist breathed his last on July 8, 2016 after he was put on a ventilator.