Afser Imam Syed (July 30, 1945–October 20, 2022)

Afser Imam Syed

Afser Imam Syed (July 30, 1945–October 20, 2022); whose first name is also spelled Afsar, was a renowned Pakistani homeopathic physician. He was a son of Akhtar Hussain (1910–1979), who was also a homeopathic physician. Akhtar lived in India before immigrating to Lahore. He received his medical degree from the medical school in Bijnore, UP, India. Akhtar and his wife Sarah, a nurse who received a diploma in homeopathy, established the Akhtar Hussain Clinic in the Chuna Mandi area of Lahore. Akhtar was mentored by Masood Muhammed Quereshi (1897–1970) a prominent Pakistani pioneer of homeopathy. Afser's brother, Asghar (1952–2003), also became a homeopath and was mentored by Akhtar and their father.

Afser initially showed an interest in the sciences and engineering, earning his MSc. in Chemical Engineering from Punjab University in 1968. Later, he attended homeopathic medical college, receiving his DHMS in 1978 from the Pakistan Homeopathic Medical College in Lahore. He took over his father's practice in 1979 after his father died in September of that year. Afser also possessed knowledge of Ayurvedic healing principles, acquired from his mother and paternal uncles. Afser was also skilled in acupuncture and dowsing, and he practiced Zen forms of meditation. He developed relationships with European homeopathic and anthroposophical enterprises, e.g., Wala, Weleda and Schwabe and thus imported products from those concerns. Also, he was an early adopter of homeopathic software, e.g., Archibel and Radar Opus. Afser studied the German language which proved helpful in his dealings with the above German companies.

Dr Afser Imam attended conferences, several of them being of an international nature, i.e., 2003 in Cyprus, 2009 in Turkey, 2016 in France and 2019 in Australia.

In 1983, he relocated his clinic to a new location to augment his practice and prepare for future growth. This clinic was located very close to the allopathic college named Allama Iqbal Medical College (AIMC). In 2014, the Akhtar Hussain Medical Foundation was founded, which became a second branch of Afser's clinic.

Afser had three children named Gulrukh (b. 11/27/72), Haider (b. 11–20–1976) and Mahrukh (b. 10–25–1979), and all three became physicians; Gulrukh became a clinical psychologist as well as homeopath, while Haider and Mahrukh became allopathic general practitioners. Haider received his MBBS in 2000 and lives and practices in the United Kingdom. Mahrukh graduated as MBBS doctor from the AIMC (Lahore, Pakistan) in 2010. Gulrukh received her DHMS from the Pakistan Homeopathic Medical College in 1994 and her MA in Psychology from the Government College University in 1997.

Afser's hobbies included photography and motorcycle riding.

In his practice, Afser stressed the adherence to a proper lifestyle, i.e., good nutrition and other salutary practices. In 2020, he suffered a mild heart attack and in February of 2021 he had a stroke causing a right-sided hemiplegia. He continued to see patients but from that point, his health seemed to steadily decline. In July of 2022, he suffered a bout of coronavirus disease 2019, developed pneumonia and crossed the threshold on the 20 October 2022.

“Afsar Imam was mostly known for his medical prowess around the world, for his breakthroughs in the field of medicine and for curing the incurable, but I have had the privilege of knowing him beyond his profession. He was a mountain of spiritual strength, a silent pillar in the society working behind the scenes for the benefit of others, adept scholar, and writer with multiple titles to his name and a backbone to those who had no one else to rely on. Despite knowing all this about him, Afsar Imam continued to surprise me even after passing on to the next realm, when on the day of his funeral people started coming out of the woodwork and telling me all that he had done for them. People like Afsar Imam are created special, for special purposes, to do special things, and they create a void when they leave behind which can only be filled by the next Afsar Imam — Atif Zaidi”

“Dr Afsar Imam Syed is imprinted on my memory. When I entered the realm of homeopathy in the early 1990s, there was a scarcity of highly educated homeopaths in Pakistan to my knowledge. Dr Afsar Imam (late) was one among the very few learned, dedicated, and devoted homeopaths. He was a contemporary of Drs Abdur Rehman, Abdul Aziz (a converted homeopath), Sajjad H. Khan, Riffat Hashmi, and MA Usmani.”

“Afsar Imam is one of the pioneers in Pakistan's homeopathic faculty who introduced new concepts and theories to homeopaths not known previously. I was introduced by him to the Iscador therapy, Dr Flury and his card repertory and the remedy Carcinosin. The card repertories are not in use these days as they are replaced by the computerised repertories, but he made a lot of additions and contributed to the development of new card repertory in collaboration with late Dr Abdur Rehman and Riffat Hashmi. They also added many rubrics from German homeopath Mathias Dorsci's literature.”

“He was a great follower and promoter of Iscador therapy and was a member of Arlesheim Society of Switzerland. He practiced homeopathy for 50 years and adopted a particular therapeutic aspect of homeopathy which covers the oncological aspects and aimed his practice toward cancer research resulting in Akhtar Hussain Cancer Research Foundation. That is why he is the only one known to me who imported injections for cancer from Arlesheim and Weleda pharmacy.”

“His favourite subjects remained throughout his life are following about which he loved and used to talk: Dr Flury, Dr Grimmer, Dr Voll's EAV machine, body polarity, Iscador therapy, Carcinosin, thyroid gland extract, supportive therapy in cancer etc. He has left a number of research papers in his legacy and friends like me.”

“He was in continuous touch with me in the last months before his demise and we used to talk and discuss a lot for long periods. He promised in that period to present me two volumes of German Materia Medica by Julius Mezger as a friendship gift, but his soul departed for heavenly abode before fulfilment of this friendly promise.”

“I miss him from the depth of my heart and his voice still vibrates in my head. May Allah rest him in peace. — Dr Tahir Malik Awan”

Publication History

Article published online:
20 October 2023