In 2017, Padma Awards to honour unsung heroes of healthcare

Dr Mukut Minz- An eminent PGI tranplant surgeon he has been credited with setting up a new Department of Renal Transplant Surgery at the PGI and performing over 3,300 kidney transplants, among other achievements. Dr Minz successfully established a combined kidney-pancreas transplant programme for Type 1 diabetics with kidney failure at the PGI. He recently led the medical team at AIIMS, New Delhi, that carried out the kidney transplant of Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

Prof Harkishen Singh- Professor Emeritus at the PU, 89-year-old Prof Harkishen Singh, a prominent medicinal chemist and a scientist, is a renowned personality in the pharmacy industry. He is credited with a rarest accomplishments in India, that is ,discovery of a clinically useful drug, Chandonium Iodide (HS-310), which was later named by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as Candocuronium Iodide. Candocuronium is the only drug discovered by any Indian University till date.

Dr Devendra Dayabhai Patel- An 84 year old renowned cancer specialist from Ahmadabad, Dr Patel has been treating cancer patients for more than 50 years and is not a stranger to awards and laurels being bestowed upon him. He is considered to be among the best surgical oncologists in the country.

Prof Madan Madhav Godbole-Dr Madan Madhav Godbole, professor at Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences molecular medicine department, is the man who literally gave Indians Iodised salt. In 1980s, he undertook several research works to study the impact of iodine deficiency on human health. The work led to policy change including National Goitre Control Programme and paved way for inclusion of iodised salt in everyday food .

Dr Mohammed Abdul Waheed- Dr Mohammed Abdul Waheed is a dermatology specialist in Hyderabad with an experience of 25 years. He is renowned for his decades of clinical experience in the management of vitiligo and published research papers on genetic studies in vitiligo.

Dr Suniti Solomon (Posthumous)- Dr Suniti Solomon, who diagnosed the first AIDS case in India in 1985, has figured in the Padma Shri list posthumously. Dr Suniti Solomon was instrumental in driving a nation-wide discussion on the subject, through her experience from biomedical to the socio economic range on HIV/AIDS. Her foremost initiative was the document on the first evidence of HIV infection in India in 1986 which brought the required attention to the then emerging epidemic.