Democrats push possible Trump response, other state legislative matters to New YearPilgrims Flock to Rome for the 2025 Holy YearFresh off a fellowship in cardiovascular disease at Hahnemann University Hospital, a young cardiologist arrived in Pottsville at the Reading Railroad Station on East Norwegian Street in 1972. Dr. Muhammad M. Munir came to join Dr. Benjamin Platt, whom he met at Hahnemann, in Dr. Norman Wall’s practice in Pottsville. It was his first practice, in a place he’d hardly ever heard of, and he stayed for 52 years until retiring from the staff of Lehigh Valley Health Network in July. Munir is notable for his dedication, vision and contribution to the health care of Schuylkill County. “My patients were like family to me,” the 83-year-old retired physician said in a recent interview. “They were responsible for me staying here as long as I have.” In retirement, he maintains contact with some of his patients, making sure they are well taken care of. He continues to read medical journals, keeping abreast of the latest developments in cardiology. Dr. Munir was honored recently during a gala at Arrow Studio & Events in Pottsville, organized by his daughter, Farrah, a pediatric cardiologist at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. Among the 135 guests was Dr. Abdul Wahhab, a colleague who practiced surgery in Pottsville for 42 years before retiring in 2015. A skilled artist whose work hangs in Lehigh Valley Hospital-Schuylkill, Wahhab presented Munir with a commemorative painting. In 1977, Munir converted a former A&P supermarket into a Medical Arts Building on Claude A. Lord Boulevard in Pottsville. Joining him as partners were doctors Platt, Wahhab, Abdul Rashid and Ghaffar A. Zafar. During his career, Munir was directly or indirectly responsible for recruiting 15 young doctors of various specialties to practice in Schuylkill County. The son of a postmaster, he grew up in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, at a time of political turmoil. One of seven children, he says his mother’s commitment to education is largely responsible for him becoming a doctor. After graduating from Nishtar Medical College in Multan, Pakistan, in 1964, he did residencies in Albany, the Bronx, London and Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn before securing a two-year fellowship at Hahnemann. Seeing himself as an old-style clinician, Munir spent much of his time in face-to-face encounters with patients. Rarely did he use a computer during a consultation. “Medicine is not strictly a science,” he contends, “there is an art to it.” In addition to his spouse, Misbah, Munir was joined by his children, Shawn, Farrah and Omar at the gala. He was particularly happy that so many of the nurses he worked with at the former Good Samaritan Hospital were able to attend the gala. Nurses, perhaps more than anyone in the medical profession, helped him throughout his career, he says. Long a resident of Howard Avenue in Pottsville, Munir currently lives in Cressona.

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