Padma Awards 2026: the doctors and healthcare pioneers honoured this year
The Padma Awards 2026 recognised doctors and healthcare figures across cancer care, gastroenterology, rural health and traditional medicine, reflecting the many ways healing reaches India.
Alongside the profile of neonatologist Dr Armida Fernandez, the Padma Awards 2026 honoured a wider group of doctors and healthcare figures whose work spans cancer care, gastroenterology, traditional medicine and rural health. Recognised across the Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri tiers, these honourees reflect the range of Indian medicine, from advanced specialties to systems of traditional healing.
Healthcare is a recurring presence on the Padma lists, a reflection of the central place doctors hold in public life.
The medicine honourees
In the Padma Bhushan tier, Dr Nori Dattatreyudu, a radiation oncologist based in the United States, was recognised for a distinguished career in cancer care, and Kallipatti Ramasamy Palaniswamy of Tamil Nadu was honoured in medicine. Among the Padma Shri honourees, Dr Padma Gurmet of Ladakh was recognised for work connected to traditional systems of medicine in the Himalayan region.
The full medicine list this year also includes Guduru Venkat Rao, H V Hande, Kewal Krishan Thakral, Palkonda Vijay Anand Reddy, Prateek Sharma, Punniamurthy Natesan, Rajendra Prasad, Saroj Mandal, Shyam Sundar and Suresh Hanagavadi, along with the duo of Ramchandra Godbole and Suneeta Godbole of Chhattisgarh, honoured together for their service in medicine.
Why traditional medicine sits beside modern specialties
Readers sometimes ask why practitioners of traditional medicine appear on the same list as cancer specialists and surgeons. The Padma Awards take an inclusive view of medicine, recognising both modern clinical advances and India's older systems of healing.
In remote regions such as Ladakh, traditional medicine often remains the most accessible form of care, and those who sustain and document it are seen as performing a distinguished service. Honouring them alongside specialists in advanced fields reflects the reality of how healthcare actually reaches people across a vast and varied country.
From oncology wards to Himalayan clinics, the 2026 medicine honourees map the many forms healthcare takes in India. Their recognition is a reminder that the work of healing is valued wherever it is done, and however it is practised.