Nagpur: The Dr B C Roy National Award, most prestigious recognition in the field of medicine in India, considered as Padma award of medical field, was conferred upon National President of Indian Academy of Paediatricians Dr Vasant Khalatkar of Nagpur. Dr Khalatkar became only the second person from Vidarbha to receive this prestigious award in recognition of his outstanding medical service.
Previously, Chief Advisor of Datta Meghe Institute of Higher Education Dr Vedprakash Mishra was honoured with the Dr B C Roy award. The award committee highlighted the notable contributions of Dr Vasant Khalatkar through community-based initiatives like ‘Bye-Bye Anaemia’ and ‘IAP Ki Baat – Community Ke Saath’. The award ceremony was held in Delhi, where Dr Khalatkar received the honour. The event was graced by distinguished guests including Union Minister of State for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Dr Jitendra Singh; Delhi Minister for Public Works, Law and Justice, and Irrigation Pravesh Verma, and special invitee Delhi MLA Dr Anil Goyal.
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Also present on this occasion were National President of IMA Dr Dilip Bhanushali, Dr Sabari Dutta, Dr R Ashokan, Dr Piyush Jain, Dr Anil Kumar Nayak, Dr Vasant Lunge, and many colleagues of Dr Khalatkar, along with IAP members including Dr Alok Bhandari, Dr Kiran Agrawal, Dr Lalan Bharti, Dr Ajay, Dr Mukesh Dhankar, Dr Manish Gupta, Dr Pankaj Garg, Dr Jaleel, Dr Somu, Dr Gurmeet Singh, Dr Raj Ghotekar, Dr Ajit Deshmukh, and Dr Gurmeet Bansal.
The award is named after the eminent doctor and politician Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy, who served as the second Chief Minister of West Bengal and also as Mahatma Gandhi’s personal physician. His birth and death anniversaries both fall on July 1, and this date is observed as National Doctors’ Day in his honour. The award was established in 1962 by the Medical Council of India and was first awarded in 1972. Till now, 92 doctors have received this prestigious honour, out of which 8 awardees are from Maharashtra.
Dr Vasant Khalatkar becomes the ninth awardee from Maharashtra and the second doctor from Nagpur to receive this honour. Dr Ashok Adhav, Dr Rajesh Saurbhandhe, Dr Milind Naik, Dr Manju Giri from IMA Nagpur, and members of the Academy of Paediatrics, Nagpur (AOPN) including Dr Uday Bodhankar, Dr Shilpa Hazare, Dr Kailash Vaidya, Dr Avinash Gawande, Dr Sanjay Pakhmode, among others, extended their congratulations to Dr Khalatkar.
