Rehana Elahi: Pakistan’s Oncology Nursing Pioneer and Visionary Leader

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By: Shabir Hussain

The professional journey of Ms. Rehana Elahi from a Registered Nurse to her existing position as senior leadership at Shaukat Khanam Memorial Hospital and Research Center(SKMH &RC) is an inspirational story of consistency and eventual success in one's impeccable career progress.

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Known to me as fellow PRN BScN student in Aga Khan University School of Nursing & Midwifery (AKUSONAM) way back in 1995-97, I can still reflect her character and traits as a passionate and focussed learner yet working with team with joyful spirit spirit despite challenging course demands of PRN BScN spearheaded mostly by foreign faculty from Canada and UK then. After a brief service with the Punjab Government, she left for Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and then to UK for higher professional education.

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It was in 2018 that as Director Nursing Sindh I met her in an strategic meeting under Federal Minister MoNHSR&C, where she represented the Prime Minister's Task Force (PMTF). She, along with Dr. Raisa Gul, Dr.Rafat Jan and Ms. Nasrin Ghani, the other three members of PMTF played a pivotal role in a bid to transform Nursing & Midwifery in Pakistan with active endorsement of then PM🇵🇰 Imran Khan and Dr. Barki- an expatriate from USA.

Despite her elevated position as PMTF, her discourse in various follow up interactions remained serene and sober as a mature leader of profession who knew how, when and what to speak yet her inherently humbleness remained in her as an inalienable part blended with learned assertiveness and firmness.

During those years, through PM-TF, she contributed in: (i) phase out Diploma in General Nursing to BSN Degree Program, (ii) Nursing Midwifery Summit convened at President House where WHO Chief and Diplomats vowed to support Pakistan in Nursing & Midwifery sectors by establishing a Nursing University (iii) 2019 was declared as Year of Nursing & Midwifery, (iv) Three Thousand Nine Hundred Eighty Crores (PKR.39.8 Billion) were pledged to subside nursing sector, (v) thousands of NEST scholarships earmarked for nursing students. Besides this out dated PNC ACT was decided to amend as per the needs of the new millennium. In this blaze of optimism Nursing Now Movement landed in Pakistan as well. Unfortunately, the Imran Khan's Government was entangled with political crises and advent of the pandemic of COVID-19 Pandemic compromised priorities.

The inefficiency and myopic views of PNC Secrtariate became another reason that the dream of overhauling Nursing & Midwifery became shattered as an unfinished task.

Soon the government was dislodged and PM-TF dismantled. Ms. Rehana, though frustrated with political developments, continued spearheading the SKMH&RC Nursing Services to Peshawar and then Karachi. Through SKMH & RC she has been organizing national and international conferences and presenting her papers and expert speeches as the sole Ambassador of Oncology Nursing in Pakistan.

Two weeks ago she came to attend an International Conference at Rufaida Hamdard College of Nursing Hamdard University (RHCN-HU) as an esteemed guest and a panelist. During informal conversations she disclosed with esteemed audiences in an informal way that she and I both were class fellows and, the Principal RHCN-HU Ms. Aalia Nasir was our faculty in the last PRN BSc N Semester at AKUSONAM. " Yes I was her fellow but could not follow her amazing career development journey" I responded as moderator of that greate debate.

Today she stands as an icon and taller though in chronologically she is younger than me. Let us all together wish her the best in the future since more is expected from this incredible professional who has become ripe with professional nectar after having rich experiences of nursing administration and the research work within and abroad.

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