✍️ By: Hamia Naderi
Najiba Sharifi, Afghanistan’s first female surgeon, was a medical student at Kabul University in the 1960s — one of the three young women featured in the iconic 1962 photograph of female students (Getty Images).
She was among the first graduates of Zarghona High School and also one of Radio Kabul’s first female announcers. After entering medical school, she continued her studies without the traditional veil, thanks to Prime Minister Daoud Khan’s decree allowing optional hijab and mixed-gender classes.
After graduation, she declined a teaching position to work at Wazir Akbar Khan Hospital. Encouraged by Professor Karben, a Czech doctor, she chose to specialize in surgery — becoming Afghanistan’s first female surgeon.
She later pursued further surgical training in Volgograd, Soviet Union, and returned to Kabul. In 1974, she traveled to Germany for her sister’s treatment and, due to the political upheaval in Afghanistan, settled permanently in Cologne.
Najiba Sharifi worked as a surgeon in several hospitals in Germany and is now retired.
