University life takes a number of funny turns when your parents are also your teachers, and Mujtaba Baqir, MBBS ’19, has learnt to appreciate the funny side of being taught family medicine by a member of family!
Mujtaba’s mother, Seerat Baqir, and father, Muhammad Baqir*, are both teaching faculty at AKU and the family connection has resulted in a number of amusing incidents over the years.
There was the time in Mujtaba’s first year when the room roared with laughter after Mujtaba’s father narrat
Mujtaba and his family on his birthday
ed a story of altitude sickness that saw him carry a child on his back. “The whole room guessed I was the one being carried and I still get teased about it today,” says Mujtaba.
There are also some unusual assumptions that people tend to make when your parent is a teacher. In his second year, everyone used to ask Mujtaba why he bothers studying or coming to class when his mum and dad teach him everything at home. “My friends would think that I go home for private tuitions! That’s the farthest thing from the truth as I prefer to relax after university, and my parents have a lot of hobbies outside of medicine.”
Beyond the light-hearted humour, there’s also an expectation that comes with being the son of a practicing specialist in emergency medicine.** If there was ever a first-aid situation with a friend, Mujtaba would notice all eyes in the room turn to him.
“It sounds silly but it’s true,” Mujtaba says. “A doctor’s son is expected to be an expert in his parents’ field. Some people tend to think that my parents passed on all their knowledge and skills to me at birth!”
Mujtaba’s classmates also share a real bond with the Baqir family that’s renewed every year when the family invites the class for a family barbeque at their home. Students love the home-like environment at the annual dinners and are often confused about whether to call Mr and Mrs Baqir, sir and ma’am or uncle and aunty.
Even on campus, the students view them as older relatives, rather than teachers, and have no hesitation in asking them for advice and study tips.
As Mujtaba gets ready to join his father and two sisters*** as AKU alumni, there’s now a new running joke on campus. After completing a rigorous exam and a viva by external examiners, Mujtaba, learned that he was on the honour roll in family medicine, his mother’s field!
“It was wonderful to be one of two students to receive the honour,” Mujtaba said. “Of course, there’s a joke in this achievement too as people tease me that there was no need for me to work so hard for the honour, as medicine is something that just runs in the family.”
* Dr Seerat Baqir is family physician at AKU’s department of family medicine. Dr Muhammad Baqir is an associate professor in emergency medicine at the University and an alumnus who completed his residency in emergency medicine from AKU in 1998.
**Mujtaba Baqir is one of over 40 students at AKU to benefit from tuition fee support for students who have a member of family in full-time employment at the University.
*** Maryam Baqir and Huma Baqir graduated from AKU with undergraduate degrees in medicine and surgery in 2013 and 2017 respectively.