British Sikh medic knighted in King’s New Year honours
Dr Amritpal Singh Hungin, emeritus professor of general practice at Newcastle University, receives a Knighthood for services to medicine on a list including nearly 30 Indian-origin healthcare professionals, philanthropists and community activists honoured for their selfless service to society
A British Sikh senior medical professional with over 30 years of general practice experience has been knighted by King Charles III in the 2024 New Year Honours list.
Dr Amritpal Singh Hungin, emeritus professor of general practice at Newcastle University, receives a Knighthood for services to medicine on a list including nearly 30 Indian-origin healthcare professionals, philanthropists and community activists honoured for their selfless service to society. The list was released on Friday night.
Pali Hungin, as he is known, was the founding dean of medicine at Durham University and a former president of the British Medical Association.
“The list recognises exceptional achievements of people and those who have shown the highest commitment to selflessness and compassion,” said British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
The list, released annually by the government’s cabinet office in the name of the British monarch, includes Commanders of the Order of the British Empire (CBEs) for Staffordshire GP Dr Chandra Mohan Kanneganti for services to general practice and senior clinical fellow of Imperial College, London Dr Mala Rao for services to public Health, the National Health Service (NHS). Also receiving the CBE honour is Bidesh Sarkar, chief financial officer at the department for business and trade, for public service.
Among the British Indian officers of the order of the British Empire include Baldev Parkash Bhardwaj; Dr Dipankar Datta, chair of the South Asia Voluntary Enterprise; Munir Patel, chief executive officer of XRAIL Group; Dr Shriti Pattani, president of the Society of Occupational Medicine; Rajwinder Singh, principal project sponsor of the Prison Infrastructure Team at the UK’s ministry of justice and Vinaichandra Guduguntla Venkatesham, CEO of Arsenal Football Club.
The cabinet office said more than 1,200 recipients have been awarded this year for their exceptional achievements, including members of the order of the British Empire conferred upon a cross-section including British Indians such as Dr Sanjay Bhandari, chair of anti-racism charity Kick It Out for services to sport and Jayshree Rajkotia, trustee and vice chair of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan UK, for services to Indian culture. Other Indian-origin recipients of MBEs include Tajinder Kaur Banwait , Dr Manav Bhavsar, Nilesh Bhasker Dosa, Dr Dinendra Singh Gill, Dr Gian Parkash Gopal, Jasdeep Hari Bhajan Singh Khalsa, Dr Meenakshi Nagpaul and Satish Manilal Parmar, among others. Healthcare and charity work also dominate among the Indian-origin medallists of the order of the British Empire such as Chandra Shekhar Biyani and Harbaksh Singh Grewal.
Of the total, 66% of the recipients are people who have undertaken outstanding work in their communities either in a voluntary or paid capacity and 48% are women.
