Dr Hermenegildo Marcos António Francisco Gomes Drago

Hermenegildo Marcos Antonio Drago, was a Pakistani Catholic doctor who was revered across communal lines in the south of Pakistan, for his work in health, education and social welfare.

Born in Goa, India, on February 28, 1907, Drago graduated from St. Xavier's College, Bombay and Grant Medical College. In 1933 he moved to Mirpurkhas, Pakistan.

In 1947, during the partition of the subcontinent, trains loaded with refugees arrived in the town. Drago waited at the railway station with volunteers to tend to the injured and the ill. For this service he was honoured by Pope Pius XII in 1950 as a knight in the Order of St. Gregory the Great.

Drago's dedication and devotion to the sick and suffering led him to start a Tuberculosis Association and an Ante-Natal Clinic, which grew into the Mother and Child Welfare Association for the benefit of the many women affected by anemia and related problems.

With the help of Doctor Ruth Pfau, he also started a leprosy centre in a room of his clinic for patients who would otherwise need to travel to Karachi for treatment.

In 1981 he served on a government committee for the rehabilitation of polio-affected children. He started all kinds of institutions in Mirpurkhas and its surroundings: for leprosy work, tuberculosis cure and prevention, and scholarships for school drop outs. He also worked closely with the Medical Mission Sisters, who run St. Teresa's Hospital in Mirpurkhas and Holy Family Hospital in Karachi.

Taking special interest in functional literacy, he organized 15 centers at which children aged 5 to 12 are taught to read, write and do simple arithmetic. For those who wanted to study further, he built a functional literacy school. Through the organization "United Youth for a United World" that he started, Drago brought the youth of different communities to work together on small projects so that they could reach out beyond their own community.

He was a charter member of the Rotary Club of Mirpurkhas. He was the first district governor of newly established Rotary District 327. In 1994 Dr Drago received the Rotary International award for Service Above Self.

With the Rotary Club’s substantial contribution a multipurpose center inaugurated in 1973 with the help of local and foreign donors, and its first floor was donated to the Dr Drago School and Girls College as a Golden Jubilee Gift by the club.

Dr Drago was honoured first with Tamgha-e-Pakistan in 1967 and then with Sitara-e-Imtiaz posthumously in 2002 for his services for the betterment of the community.[1]

Doctor Drago’s services ranged from assisting refugees, to the cure and prevention of major diseases, to education and youth animation. He died on January 16, 1999, in Mirpurkhas.

Retired Bishop Bonaventure Paul, the main celebrant at the funeral Mass on January 18, 1999, at St. Lawrence's Church, praised Drago's love for the poor and his outreach to Hindus and Muslims. Drago left behind a wife and six children. All four of his daughters are doctors. Although the people of Mirpurkhas wanted him to be buried there, his wife chose Karachi so that people could more easily visit his grave.[2]

His legacy lives on with the Marie Adelaide Drago government leprosy clinic in Mirpurkhas. Sponsored by the Sui Southern Gas Company, it was renovated in 2006 at a cost of Rs 1.5 million and established at the leprosy centre started by Dr Drago. So far the centre has treated 1022 eye patients, five cataracts, 343 with skin disease, and 13 TB patients were provided medicines free of cost. The programme of the centre aims at leprosy elimination and rehabilitation, prevention of tuberculosis and blindness.[3]