CIOIN

Arfa Karim Randhawa, the world's youngest Microsoft certified professional has died in a hospital at the age of 16, her family said on Sunday (15 January).

According to a Press Trust of India (PTI) report, Randhawa was admitted to a military hospital in Lahore two weeks ago after she suffered epileptic seizures that caused brain damage on December 22. Another report said that she had suffered a heart attack leading to a concussion, which proved fatal despite doctors' effort for a couple of weeks to save the child prodigy's life.

Doctors pronounced her dead on Saturday night, the report said.

According to the PTI report, a surgeon attending Arfa said that she was hospitalised in a critical condition with meagre chances of survival because of a severe attack of idiopathic epilepsy fits.

"It is hard to bear the loss but I request the people of Pakistan to help fulfill her dreams in the education sector," said the deceased's father, Col (retired) Amjad Karim.

Microsoft's founder Bill Gates, who invited Randhawa to visit his company's headquarters in the US in 2004, had offered to bear the expenses of her treatment in America but the teenager could not be taken abroad due to her fragile health, the report said.

Randhawa became the youngest Microsoft professional at the age of nine after completing her MCP in 2004. She was the recipient of numerous awards and gold medals from public and private institutions for her achievements, including the President's Award for Pride of Performance and Fatimah Jinnah Gold Medal.

Pakistanis expressed their grief on social media at the death of Arfa. Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani also paid tributes to her.