Let’s get to know Dr. Morteza Sheikh, the philanthropic doctor of Mashhad better
Morteza Sheikh was born in Tehran in 1286 to a goldsmith father from Tehran and a mother from Istanbul, Turkey. Morteza’s father faced various financial problems when he was a teenager, in such a way that he had to help his father in addition to his education. Morteza was also a caring brother to his three siblings and with great effort, while he was busy going through medical school, he provided the right conditions for their education and then their employment as teachers and serving in orphanages.
Morteza Sheikh was sent to serve after obtaining a doctorate in medicine according to the custom of that time. He completed general and officer training in Mako and Maragheh and then went to Zabul for his service. In these three cities, Dr. Sheikh felt the peak of misery and misery of the people. Accordingly, after the end of his military service, he stayed in Zabul for a few days and practiced medicine. During his stay in this city, he managed to establish a government hospital in the city with his pursuits so that the oppressed people of that country can benefit from free medical services.
He had no eyes and visited patients for the lowest possible price at that time, which was 5 Rials. Of course, this was a small part of Dr. Sheikh’s philanthropy, because he knew that most of his clients were high-minded patients who could not afford to visit other doctors in the city, so he had placed a wooden box in his office that people put the price of his services in it, and at the end of the night, most of the volume of this box was of soft drinks that he himself had poured around it before entering the office, so that the needy patients would pick them up and put them in the box, creating conditions that others Do not be informed of their bad financial situation.
He tried to prescribe the cheapest medicine possible for his patients, and for example, while chicken soup and horseradish water had similar properties, he prescribed the latter, which was cheaper. Also, by signing a contract with some pharmacies in the city, he provided conditions for very needy patients to receive medicine without payment.
Dr. Sheikh lived like this for many years as a servant doctor among the people until he was hospitalized due to a serious illness in 1352. Broadcasting this news caused people to spontaneously organize a prayer ceremony for him. The prayers that caused his partial recovery, but finally Dr. Morteza Sheikh’s disease died on 30th of Bahman 1355 and he went to meet God.
The interesting thing to note about this death was the coincidence of Dr. Sheikh’s funeral with the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Reza (AS). This caused the funeral of this servant of the nation to be held much more magnificently than what was imagined. The effect of this ceremony was increased when the participants of the mourning groups for the martyrdom of Imam Reza (AS) also joined the group of mourners of the late Dr. to provide in the holy shrine of Razavi.
This post is written by monese_ghamgosar