Islamabad (AsiaNews) – The ‘Person of the Week’ in Pakistan is a Christian nurse. In fact, Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif publicly honoured the heroism of Razia Noreen, who on 26 August in Islamabad at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), during the fire in which 14 newborns died, risked her life to rescue another baby from the burning neonatal ward. For Christians in Pakistan, her story has become a testimony to a faith expressed through service, compassion and the defence of human life.
In the darkness and thick black smoke, there was little time to think. There were newborns inside. There was fire. There was panic. And there was a nurse who went in. “I didn’t even think about it,” Noreen later told Prime Minister Sharif, recalling the terrifying moments of the fire.
Those few words perhaps explain a great deal. According to footage of the incident, Noreen entered the neonatal ward at 6.39 am. Moments later, she emerged carrying a baby in her arms. She handed the baby to someone else to ensure it remained safe amidst the chaos. Instead of seeking shelter from the danger herself, she attempted to return to the ward. “When Dr Abdul Rehman came out, I handed the baby to him and rushed back inside,” she recalled. She tried to save another baby. Then a sudden explosion plunged the ward into darkness. Fourteen babies would ultimately lose their lives.
For Noreen, the tragedy was not merely a moment of personal heroism. In her testimony, she spoke with sorrow of the children she was unable to save. Her courage was accompanied by grief. She does not describe herself as a heroine, but as a nurse. She told the Prime Minister that looking after the children was her responsibility and that nurses are entrusted with the care of other people’s children.
Her words carry profound significance in a country where Christians form a small religious minority but have historically made significant contributions to education, healthcare and social services. For Christians, service is not merely a profession. It is also a way of bearing witness to the faith. The Gospel calls believers to recognise the dignity of every human person, especially the most vulnerable, the suffering and the defenceless. In the PIMS ward, those vulnerable lives were newborns who could not protect themselves. Noreen’s response was immediate: she went to them.
She did not ask about the religion, family or social status of the baby she was holding. She simply saw a life that needed saving. Thus, her story became a wordless Christian testimony.
In Pakistan, where religious minorities sometimes struggle to have their contributions recognised, Noreen’s story offers a different picture of the Christian presence in society. It is not a story of conflict or political debate. It is a story of service.
A Christian woman, wearing her nursing uniform, entered a dangerous place to save a child whose religious identity was, at that moment, irrelevant. The child was simply a human life. And for Noreen, that life was worth risking her own. Her courage reflects the Christian conviction that every human being possesses inherent dignity and that love becomes credible when it is translated into action. In the words of the Gospel, faith is expressed through love.
Prime Minister Sharif praised Noreen, calling her “a daughter of the nation” and saying that the country is proud of her courage. He announced that she would receive the Sitara-i-Khidmat (Star of Service) and a cash award of 10 million rupees (approximately 31,000 euros – ed.) in recognition of her actions. “The mother of the child you saved will bless you,” the Prime Minister told her.
The government’s recognition is important, but the deeper significance of Noreen’s story lies elsewhere. It lies in the question that her courage poses to Pakistani society: what does it mean to serve another human being when doing so involves a personal cost? For Noreen, the answer seems to have been instinctive: a child was in danger, so she went in. This simple gesture has become a powerful reminder of the contribution made by Christian healthcare workers in Pakistan and of the many quiet acts of service carried out every day without cameras, awards or public recognition.
The PIMS tragedy has yet to be followed by serious questions about hospital safety, emergency preparedness and accountability. The families who have lost their newborns deserve answers. But alongside the call for justice, another memory remains: a nurse walking through the smoke whilst others were desperately trying to escape it.
Razia Noreen emerged carrying a baby in her arms. Since then, she has received national recognition. Yet perhaps her most lasting reward will be found in the life of the newborn she saved and in the example her courage sets for a country in need of compassion.
For Pakistan’s Christian community, her story is a reminder that faith is not only demonstrated in churches, in prayers or in religious ceremonies. Sometimes faith is demonstrated in a hospital corridor. Sometimes it is demonstrated in the decision to walk into the fire. And sometimes, as Razia Noreen’s story shows, the most powerful sermon is simply this: ‘I didn’t even think about it.’
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