This retiring doctor from Arkansas had quite the generous parting; he decided to give a gift to his patients after working for 30 years.
Last year, when Dr Omar Atiq closed his oncology practice, he decided to do a good deed for his patients. Unfortunately, a lot of them had debts for their hospital bills.
He knew that they were under a lot of financial pressure because of the pandemic. So, to give a suitable parting gift, he decided to wipe away the debts of 200 of his patients.
The total was $650,000 that he took off the books.
He even made time to send his patients holiday cards where he informed them about their free-of-debt status.
No Higher Honor than Being a Physician, He Said
Atiq explains that their patients are like their extended families and that he had no higher honor than serving as their physician these 3 decades. He says how he’s been blessed to help them a little and he’s glad he could do it.
He founded the Arkansas Cancer Clinic in 1991. He’s from Pakistan originally, but moved to Arkansas after finishing his fellowship at the Manhattan’s Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
These patients, some of which had debts of thousands of dollars for their treatments, suddenly felt at least some relief. Atiq explained that one of the things that always bothered him is to see ill patients having to worry about anything else rather than getting better.
Sadly, throughout his long years of working as a doctor, he’s seen patients going bankrupt trying to pay for their treatments.
He then realized he has a unique possibility to make a change, to help someone feel better.
Without a doubt, being able to count our blessings is life is amazing, but it’s even better to be able to share them with others.
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