The former Honorary Consul General of India, Upjit Singh Sachdeva, commonly known as “Jeety”, has lavished praises on Niranjan K. Pehere, head Ophthalmologist of the L. V. Prasad Eye Institute at the Liberia Eye Center, the John F. Kennedy Medical Center in Sinkor, Monrovia.
Mr. Sachdeva, a very successful Indian businessman, told his audience of medical practitioners, diplomats, and others, that Dr. Pehere, who is affectionately called by his first name by everyone, works beyond the call of duty.
“Dr. Niranjan and your team, I am very, very thankful to you for all the hardwork that you are doing. You call him nine or 10 o-clock, he is at duty and doing whatever needs to be done. I think he is working beyond the call of duty.
Jeety, who is a member of L.V. Prasad Eye Institute, made these remarks Wednesday, August 16, when the eye institute observed its sixth anniversary being in Liberia.
Over the last six years of the institute?s works in Liberia, there had been others who served before Dr. Niranjan, but Jeety had this to say about him: And the commitment and dedication I have seen in Dr. Niranjan, I never saw in any of his predecessors.
The former Indian Honorary Consul General further said, ?Whenever I come here and see the reports of Dr. Niranjan, my heart elates. I am very happy that this institute, which I worked to bring over to Liberia 10 years ago, with the help of Damodar Gautam Sawang, who was the then Police Commissioner of UNMIL, is doing so well.
According to him, he worked along with Officer Sawang to send to India, for eye care, Mr. Charles Sirleaf, the older son of former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who was President of Liberia when the L.V. Prasad Institute was setup at JFK Hospital. He narrated that he also worked with Dr. Gullapalli Nageswara Rao, a senior fellow at the L.V. Prasad Eye Institute in India, to get everything done in Liberia.
“He visited Liberia as my guest at least three times. We were successful in convincing the Liberian Government and Dr. Rao that we would do everything that they needed for eye care in Liberia,? Jeety stated.
The L. V. Prasad Eye Institute celebrated six years because it was formally inaugurated on July 24, 2017. However, Mr. Jeety had begun the discussions with the relevant authorities in India and Liberia about setting up the Institute in Liberia four years earlier. The deadly Ebola outbreak delayed the process for little over two years before talks resumed, and the center officially opened its doors at the JFK Hospital?s Liberia Eye Center.
Further praising Dr. Niranjan, Jeety told the JFK authority, including Mrs. Dama Koffa, wife of Deputy House Speaker, Jonathan Fonati Koffa, ?The messages you get from him, in your group chat, I also get from him personally everyday practically. I am amazed to see some of them. I am not going to say what I do for him personally because I believe as God has blessed me to do whatever I can do, I do it. Whatever he and the other staff do, are remarkable!
Mrs. Koffa, who is the Deputy Chief Executive Officer for Administration at the hospital, had said earlier that Dr. Niranjan and his staff were performing ?miracles? based on some of the surgeries that they were doing at the Center.
Speaking further, Jeety, who is soon to open Liberia?s first-ever rubber-processing factory, said when he visited his native India few months ago, he had met with Dr. Rao, the founder, and still Chairman of L.V. Prasad Eye Institute Liberia, and told him about the wonderful things that the Institute is doing in Liberia. He was very happy with the progress. I had proposed to him at that time that Dr. Niranjan needed help and that he didn?t need one doctor, but at least two doctors to support him. Today, I am happy to see that there are two additional doctors here.?
He disclosed that when Dr. Niranjan told him that he was going to honor five of his staff during their sixth anniversary, ?I told him Dr. Niranjan, one day I have to organize a program to honor you. You see you can establish a program, you can establish a clinic but if you don?t have people to handle it, it ultimately fades out.?
According to the former Indian Honorary Consul General, the vision with which Dr. Rao established the eye institute in Liberia was that after five years, which expired last year, it would be handed over to the Liberian staffs to run. “Even if it is handed over after 10 years for the young doctors to take over the Liberia Eye Institute, that would be one of the biggest things that the L.V. Prasad Eye Institute has done for the people of Liberia.”
“What all well-meaning Liberians should work towards is that a day comes when the L.V. Prasad team departs and a Liberian team takes over. That is the time that you know that this thing is happening. But they are working towards it because the tools and fellowships for training have started in India. This is a very good aspect.
Meanwhile, Dr. Niranjan, among other things, giving the overview of last year?s? July 2022 and August 16, 2023? operations of the L. V. Prasad Eye Institute, said they had seen close to 18,000 patients and that the year before that, they had seen close to 14,000 patients. According to him, this is 20% patient increment from previous years.
He further disclosed that they had performed close to 15,000 surgeries and most of them were done at no cost. He said this is more than 60% increment from the previous year and that the increase in the number is due to the expansion in their surgical capacity. They now have two operating rooms and can do 10 to 15 surgeries daily.
He also reported that this year, the L. V. Prasad Eye Institute renewed its MOU with the JFK authorities and that they have extended their lifespan for another five years, until September 2027.
?The idea behind this is to build the capacity of the local staff, that by 2027, they should be able to handle this project, he added.
Among the significant reports, he stated that during the past year, they experimented working on Saturdays and they now work on that day, including performing surgeries. He mentioned that employees are paid for that day based on the Labor Law of Liberia.
At the end of the 6th celebration, five members of the Institute?s staffers, including one Indian, were presented with certificates for their service over the last year.
Certificates presented included Doctor of the year, and Employee of the year. These two came with cash rewards.
