“It has been a great privilege to serve the medical profession. I am naturally deeply honoured and pleased, that my contribution has been recognised in this way,” he told BiharTimes.com.

Dr Pathak’s contributions in the medical field and as a sportsman have left an indelible mark on the Yorkshire community. As chairman of the Negotiating Committee of the British Medical Association, Dr Pathak helped mitigate the job insecurity caused by recent government reforms in the NHS. He also acts as the Overseas Mentor for doctors in Yorkshire.

Dr Pathak has travelled extensively in the Indian sub-continent––along with a team of accomplished UK-based Consultant Surgeons––training local doctors to use modern evidence-based surgical techniques.

In addition, he has also organised numerous health camps in his native state of Bihar. Dr Pathak also currently manages a non-profit tuberculosis hospital built by his late father Dr Munishwar Pathak near Dehri-On-Sone, Bihar. Numerous medical facilities have been extended to the community and plans are to make the hospital more viable and accessible to the underprivileged people in remote areas.

This progress has been fast tracked since he visited the flood stricken areas of Northern Bihar in 2008. Dr Pathak led a team from the BBC, highlighting the devastating effects of the floods. Fund raising efforts were greatly improved due to heightened awareness in the UK, as a direct result of this documentary. Relief to these areas has continued via Prayas and the Bihar Foundation which are two other NGO’s in which Dr Pathak is actively involved.

Besides excelling in the medical profession, Dr. Pathak has also been an accomplished cricketer. He captained the Patna University Cricket team and also the East Zone Combined Universities Cricket team. He was also a member of the Bihar Ranji Trophy cricket team, as a wicket-keeper/batsman. In subsequent years, Dr Pathak has served as an expert analyst for the BBC World Service and has covered two Cricket World Cups.

Dr. Pathak has also been instrumental in honing the talents of various Ranji trophy cricketers. Players of the calibre of Dilip Vengsarkar, WV Raman and Saba Karim have visited Yorkshire to play club cricket at the request of Dr Pathak. Furthermore, players from underprivileged backgrounds have been sponsored by him to come and play club cricket in Yorkshire.

It was the connection between cricket and charitable work that led Dr Pathak to invite the charitable side Lashings, featuring international superstars, to come and play an exhibition match in Hull in July 2009. The event was a massive success and culminated in a sizeable profit for disabled sports children and various charities in India.

“I am absolutely delighted that Dr Pathak has been honoured by Her Majesty in this way. This is a thoroughly well deserved and long over-due recognition of his considerable contribution to the medical profession and British Society,” said a prominent public figure and member of the House of Lords, Professor Lord Bhikhu Parekh.

Dilip Vengasarkar, the former Indian Cricket Captain, who has known Dr Pathak for over two decades was thrilled when he heard the news and stated that “he was proud to be a friend of Dr Pathak’s and extremely happy that, despite hanging up his cricket boots, Dr Pathak still continues to support less able and underprivileged cricketers to this day.”

Dr David Hepburn, Medical Director at Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, where Dr Pathak is employed, said:

“No one is more deserving of this great honour than Ashok Pathak. I have known him personally for many years and while he has been an excellent servant of the Trust for over 30 years, his untiring charitable works really make Ashok stand out as a special person. On behalf of everyone at Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust I would like to congratulate him on this well deserved recognition.”

Many doctors from India have made Britain their home, but only a small number have, like Dr. Ashok Pathak, been instrumental in fostering a close relationship between the English and the Indian community through their contribution in the medical and the sports field.

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