People of Shanghai have voted an acclaimed medical doctor from Nepal as one of ten recipients of the 2015 Shanghai International Excellence Award. The award is given annually to expatriates who have made significant contributions to Shanghai, China’s largest city and a thriving global financial hub. Dr Birendra Kumar Sah, who speaks fluent Chinese, made it to to the list of ten out of 30 initial candidates for an online voting that went on for a month. According to Shanghai Daily, that launched the prize two years ago along with Channel Shanghai, ten million online ballots were cast in the vote. The ballot ended on January 9, the newspaper’s website said in a report yesterday. Dr Shah arrived in China in September 1998 and after 11 years of rigorous studies, he graduated as a PhD scholar from Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine. Ever since, he has been working as a full time clinical doctor (general surgeon) at Ruijin Hospital in Shanghai.
His commitment to the country of his origin was reportedly at full display when he led a medical team of Chinese Red Cross Society to Nepal following the devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake last April. Married to a Shanghainese doctor who also works at the same hospital, Dr Shah says he loves the city and considers it the ‘best city in the world’. “I have been living here for 17 years. I like the city. At the very beginning, I was in Henan Province and after I came here, I decided that I must study in this city. Then no matter where I go, I am always thinking that I should go back home. And my home is Shanghai,” Dr Shah was quoted as saying by Shanghai Daily.
