Indian cricketers visit Imran's cancer hospital
At the invitation of Imran Khan, the Indian cricket team visited the Shaukhar Khanum Memoriral Hospital in Lahore yesterday and spent an hour talking with patients young and old
Cricinfo staff
12-Jan-2006
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On the occasion of the Muslim festival of Eid Al-Adha, Rahul Dravid led his team in handing out sweets to cancer patients. Imran, who named the hospital after his late mother when she passed away to cancer in the 1980s, was pleased that the team made time for this visit.
"It was a great gesture from the Indian team and a great boost for my hospital, staff and, above all, to the patients of the hospital," Khan told reporters at the hospital. "When India came to Pakistan in 1989 we launched this hospital and it is an auspicious occasion that they have revisited it. Sachin Tendulkar was a 15-year-old boy then, and now he is an icon and some of the young patients adore him and were thrilled to see him among them."
Khan, who played 82 Tests for Pakistan until his retirement in 1992, is now a politician. His hospital won the World Health Organisation award for excellence in 2004 and is Pakistan's largest charitable institute.
Osama Shahzad, a seven-year-old suffering from leukemia, said he was overjoyed after meeting Tendulkar. "I am thrilled. Tendulkar is my hero and I was waiting for him since I got to know that the Indian team were coming," Shahzad said.
The first Test between India and Pakistan begins tomorrow at Lahore.