Padma Awards in Medicine 2023: Posthumous Padma Vibhushan for ORS Pioneer Dilip Mahalanabis, 7 doctors get Padmashri

New Delhi: The government began its early Republic Day celebrations today, releasing the coveted list of Padma Awards 2023. For this year, the President has approved conferment of 106 Padma Awards incl 3 duo cases. The list comprises 6 Padma Vibhushan, 9 Padma Bhushan & 91 Padma Shri.19 of the awardees are women and the list also includes 2 persons from the category of Foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI and 7 Posthumous awardees.

In the field of Medicine, Late Dilip Mahalanabis, who pioneered the use of ORS, will be given the Padma Vibhushan posthumously, India’s second-highest civilian award. The government said Dilip Mahalanabis demonstrated the effectiveness of ORS while serving in refugee camps during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.

Dr Mahalanabis who passed away three months ago was an Indian pediatrician known for pioneering the use of ORS to treat diarrhoeal diseases. Thanks to his discovery of ORS, which is a simple, inexpensive yet effective indigenous solution thanks to which world has seen a 93% reduction in deaths caused by diarrhea, cholera, and dehydration, especially in infants and children. It is expected to save around 5 crore lives globally, 

Meanwhile, 7 Doctors across the country have been conferred the Padma Shri, India's 4th highlest Civilian honour. The list of  Padma Shri Doctors include

1) Dr Ratan Chandra Kar, Age:66 years, Field: Medicine (Physician), State: Andaman & Nicobar- Dr Ratan Chandra Kar is a retired Government Doctor from Andamans working with the Jarawa tribe who inhabit an island 48 km from North Sentinel. He treated the Jawaras during the measles epidemic of 1999 and brought them back from the verge of extinction by contributing to an increase in population from 76 to 270. He further closely observed and documented their culture and traditions in his book called The Jarawas of the Andamans.

2) Dr Munishwar Chander Dawar Age: 76 years, Field: Medicine (Affordable Healthcare), State: Madhya Pradesh- Dr Munishwar Chander Dawar, War Veteran & Doctor from Jabalpur has been treating underprivileged people for the past 50 years. He has been selflessly treating poor and weaker sections of the society at an affordable cost of Rs 20 up from Rs 2 in the 2010s. He is a retired Indian Army doctor who served in the 1971 war.

3) Dr Nalini Parthasarathi Field: Medicine, State:  Puducherry- 

6) Dr Gopalsamy Veluchamy, Field: Medicine, State: Tamil Nadu

7) Dr Ishwar Chander Verma, Field: Medicine State: Delhi- Dr IC Verma is currently the head of genetic medicine department at Sri Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi. He was earlier professor of paediatrics and genetics at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. He has been mentioned in the Limca Book of Records 2003 as a pioneer in genetics in India. He has vast experience in genetic counselling, serving about 2,000 cases with genetic problems every year, and bringing the benefits of genetics and genomics to large number of patients. Dr Verma has received a number of national awards inclduing Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) award, the National Academy of Medical Sciences (NAMS) award and Dr B C Roy (Medical Council of India) National Award. He is a member and vice chairman of the ethics committee of the International Human Genome Organization (HUGO) and serves as an adviser in genetics to the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Geneva, and to Roche Genetics in Basel, Switzerland.