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Indian-origin doctor Shiv Pande receives coveted Liverpool award

London - He is the first Asian to be conferred the 'Citizen of Honour' award.

Published: Mon 5 Apr 2021, 11:01 AM

  • By
  • Prasun Sonwalkar

The Liverpool City Council has conferred the ‘Citizen of Honour’ award on Shiv Pande, who gained medical qualifications in India, moved to the United Kingdom (UK) in 1971, and treated patients for nearly 50 years in the city, besides leading cricket and other community activities.

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The ‘Citizen of Honour’ award recognises individuals who have made significant, exceptional or unique contributions to enrich the image of Liverpool and/or its citizens.

Earlier, Pande, 82, was conferred the royal honour of the Member of British Empire (MBE). He is the first Asian to be selected for the Liverpool award.

The names of recipients of the ‘Citizen of Honour’ award are added to a plaque on permanent display in the Town Hall, the headquarters of the city council.

Wendy Simon, acting mayor of Liverpool, wrote in a letter to Pande that a resolution to confer the honour on him had been unanimously agreed upon at a recent meeting of the city council.

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“The title of Citizen of Honour is a very special achievement awarded to those people who have given selfless and exceptional service to the City of Liverpool. I am pleased to say on behalf of the City Council that you are sincerely a wonderful and worthy recipient of this honour,” she said.

Over the years, Pande has been closely involved in raising funds for several causes, including for victims of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy and for Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity. He has organised cricket matches involving Test cricketers from India, Pakistan and other countries as part of charity initiatives.

Pande is among thousands of doctors from the Indian subcontinent who have contributed to the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) since it was founded in 1948.

According to Julian M Simpson, author of a book on doctors from India and South Asia titled ‘Migrant Architects of the NHS’, “Doctors from the Indian subcontinent were not just contributing to the NHS, they were its very lifeblood. We should acknowledge they were among the architects of the NHS.”

Indian doctors are also reflected in popular British culture, for example, ‘The Indian Doctor’, BBC’s five-part television drama set in a south Wales mining village in the 1960s, which starred Sanjeev Bhaskar and Ayesha Dharker and was telecast in 2010.

Photo: Supplied

Photo: Supplied



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