Ismaili.NET - Heritage F.I.E.L.D.

Mr. President of the Managing Council, Members, Ladies and Gentlemen

This, as you said Mr. President, is the 5th time that I have visited the Hospital in the last ten years. When I told the Federal Council of the Ismaili Community in India, that I would be visiting in this year, they said to Me, “certainly you never come to India”, and yet this is the fifth time in ten years and I do not believe I have visited any other area more often than India in the last ten years. I just want to get the record straight.

In the last five visits, I have, on at least three occasions, been asked either to lay a foundation stone or to open a new ward for the hospital. I would like to congratulate the Managing Council for these remarkable results, but also draw their attention to the fact that the hospital’s results are really and truly a reflection of the work of the medical staff, and I would like to thank here publicly the medical staff for having given such loyalty, such attention to this institution, because it is this work which makes the medical institution popular and thereby makes it necessary to extend the hospital year after year after year.

I would not like the donors to think that the hospital could have been extended without them, because it definitely could not have been and I would like them to know that as the Imam of the Ismaili Community, I am immensely proud of the donations which they are making – charitable donations to a worthy cause which are in the true spirit of generosity, in the true tradition of our Jamat and I am proud to say that this is one of the fundamentals of the development of our Jamati institutions all over the world and I would like to pay tribute to these donors today, because without them we would not be able to make the progress that we are making, not only in India, but in all other parts of the world.

Lastly, I would like to say that I think there are members behind this institution, such as Haji Jamal, who are doing wonderful work of whom one, maybe, does not see that often and their names are not publicly-linked accept on occasions such as this. To these silent workers, the Jamat and those who use the hospital, owe a great debt of gratitude and I would like Haji Jamal and other silent workers to know that we appreciate their work immensely.

When I return to India, there will now, most probably, be a third floor in the hospital and I will be asked to perform the opening ceremony of that and to lay a foundation stone (interrupted by clapping) from audience) and most probably to lay the foundation stone of the fourth floor. If and when I get to the age of fifty, I just cannot imagine what will be the size of this institution,

In any case, I would like to say again, how happy I am to see the progress of the hospital and to congratulate all those who have supported this institution for making it a truly remarkable institution.

Thank you