Kashmir Mourns Top Surgeon Who Pioneered Cancer Care

When Showkat Hussain first met Dr. Syed Ashaq Hussain Naqshbandi in 1989, his father was a patient in SMHS Hospital's surgical ward 16. Hussain remembers not just the surgeon's exceptional skill, but the warmth he showed to the family.

“He didn't speak like a distant expert,” Hussain, then 19, recalled,“but like someone who truly cared.”

They shared simple meals in the hospital corridor, talking about life, medicine, and what the future might hold. That image of a soft-spoken surgeon treating patients as if they were family has stayed with him ever since.

Early on September 13, 2025, that gentle force left the world.

Dr. Naqshbandi, Kashmir's leading surgeon and pioneer of cancer care, passed away after a long illness. His Namaz-e-Janaza was offered at the ancestral graveyard of the Naqashbandh Sahib shrine in Srinagar, where family, former students, patients, and colleagues gathered under a bright sky to mourn a man whose life seemed inseparable from the health of Kashmir itself.

His career spanned over four decades. During that time, he built not just surgical techniques and medical curricula, but trust in a healthcare system often strained by scarcity and strife.

As Principal and Dean of Government Medical College (GMC) Srinagar and Head of Surgery at SMHS Hospital, Dr. Naqshbandi was a steady hand in turbulent times, someone who believed that medicine was as much about humanity as it was about science.

Colleagues called him the“surgeon with golden hands.” In the operating theater, his movements were precise and calm, almost meditative. Each incision and suture carried the weight of years of dedication.

Patients remember those hands not as cold instruments of surgery, but as instruments of hope.

“He saved my father's life in 1990,” one patient said.“That smile, that care, I will never forget it.”

Yet technical brilliance was only part of his legacy. His true distinction lay in the empathy and integrity that infused every action.

Mohammad Ashraf, a former colleague, remembered a man whose smile was a constant comfort in both wards and lecture halls.“He treated every patient with respect and compassion, believing that diagnosis without dignity was no diagnosis at all.”

Students recall him as an educator who pushed them beyond textbooks.

Yog Raj Handoo, a former student, remembered a pivotal moment during a resident strike in 1988. Administrative powers asked Dr. Naqshbandi to threaten students. Instead, he leaned over and whispered,“Go and do what needs to be done.”

“That moment lifted a burden from my shoulders,” Handoo said,“and deepened my respect for him.”

Dr. Naqshbandi's vision reached far beyond surgery and teaching. He was among the first to recognize cancer as an emerging health threat in Kashmir. At a time when awareness was nearly nonexistent and treatment facilities scarce, he founded the Cancer Society of Kashmir.

“He worked tirelessly, building networks of care and counseling, offering hope where there was fear,” said colleague Shabir Hassan.

His efforts extended beyond hospital walls. On Radio Kashmir, he spoke to the public, sharing simple, life-saving health advice in a language people could understand.

Family remembers him as a humble man whose values were unshakable. His nephew described him as“a light of wisdom and knowledge who never compromised on duty, honesty, or dignity.”

He stood firm against favouritism and injustice, selecting candidates for interviews purely on merit. His honesty and fairness became legendary among medical circles in Kashmir.

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