Arkansas doctor forgives $650,000 patients’ bills, despite leading to clinic’s shutdown

• Dr. Omar Atiq has treated hundreds of patients at the Arkansas Cancer Clinic which he founded in 1991.
• In February 2020, the clinic was shut due to staffing shortages and with about $650,000 patient debt.
• Dr. Atiq and his wife decided to forgive all the debt of the patients with no means to pay, “so they could face other challenges they may be facing in their lives.”

This doctor goes beyond saving lives.

Dr. Omar Atiq has not only treated hundreds of cancer patients, but has moreso forgiven their outstanding debts from treatment costs.

In 1991, Dr. Atiq founded the Arkansas Cancer Clinic, which provided numerous patients with diagnostics, radiation and chemotherapy for over the years.

Just in February last year, the clinic shut down due to staffing shortages, with close to $650,000 outstanding patient debts.

The medical bills piled up as no patient was ever denied treatment, whether they can afford it or not, Dr. Atiq said. “Not for lack of health insurance or funds nor for any other reason,” he told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. “I’ve always considered it a high honor and privilege to be someone’s physician — more important than anything else.”

After the clinic’s closure, the Pakistani oncologist settled the debts after knowing that most of his patients didn’t have the means to pay. He realized that the pandemic has made their financial standing even more unstable.

“…My wife and I, as a family, we thought about it and looked at forgiving all the debt… We saw that we could do it and then just went ahead and did it,” Dr. Atiq told Good Morning America.

The forgiving doctor even sent out holiday cards to around 200 of his former patients on Christmas week. “The Arkansas Cancer Clinic was proud to have you as a patient. Although various health insurances pay most of the bills for the majority of patients, even the deductibles and co-pays can be burdensome. The clinic has decided to forego all balances owed to the clinic by its patients.”

What he did truly demonstrated how he practiced the doctor’s job to save lives. He showed kindness and compassion that saved the patients from the financial burden, so they could “face other challenges they may be facing in their lives.”

“I just hope that it gave them a little sigh of relief and made it easier for them,” the doctor said.

Dr. Atiq completed his fellowship at New York City’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and accepted a job offer in Arkansas.

In 2013, he became the president of the Arkansas Medical Society. After five years, he came to be the chairman-elect of the board of governors of the American College of Physicians.

Thinking that his success is credited to being in the right place at the right time, the kindhearted doctor shared, “I believe the opportunities that have come my way are, in part, because of where I am.”

Source: Good News Network