Afghanistan’s only female lieutenant general and a famous surgeon, Suhaila Siddiq, passed away at the age of 72.

Suhaila Siddiq served 36 years in Kabul’s Daoud Khan Military Hospital as a surgeon. She was one of a small number of women to hold a ministerial post in the country.

The surgeon had Alzheimer’s disease for the last six years.

She was born in 1948 in Kabul and studied at the Kabul Medical University, but completed her medical studies from Moscow State University.

The country’s medical professionals, top leaders mourned her sad demise.

Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah said her role in establishing a place for women in the fields of medicine, military and in wider society had been “commendable and undeniable”.