Delhi Govt to nominate only medicos for Padma Awards: CM Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi:Chief Minister Shri Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday announced that this year the Delhi Government will only nominate the names of doctors and healthcare workers for the Padma Awards. This decision has been taken to honour the service and sacrifice of the medical community in the COVID-crisis. The CM thanked all the doctors and healthcare workers who relentlessly gave in everything they could to save lives during one of the biggest crises humanity has ever seen. 

In this prospect, the Delhi Government is seeking recommendations of names of doctors and healthcare staff from the people of Delhi for the Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan & Padma Vibhushan awards. The people can send in the names of the doctors and healthcare workers with a description of why they think the name they have recommended deserves the honour to [email protected] by August 15, 2021.

The names sent to this email will be screened by a ‘Search and Screening Committee’ headed by Deputy Chief Minister Shri Manish Sisodia, and the committee will decide the final list of nominations.

Chief Minister Shri Arvind Kejriwal in his digital press conference said, “now is the time to tell our doctors and healthcare workers how much we are grateful to them and how much we respect them. Every year the country honours a select few with the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Awards; the centre government gives these awards to those people who have showcased excellent work in their field.”

For all three Padma Awards, the Padma Shri, the Padma Bhushan, and the Padma Vibhushan, the Central Government asks people to nominate such figures who they think deserve the honour, and also asks state governments to nominate such personalities from their state.

“The Delhi Government has decided that this year we will only send the names of doctors and healthcare workers for Padma Awards from our end. We want to tell the doctors and healthcare workers that we are thankful to them and deeply honour them. We want them to be honoured with these awards,” the CM said.

“We want the people of Delhi to come forward and tell us the names of doctors and healthcare workers who the Delhi Government should nominate. The people of Delhi are the ones who actually know the most about the dedication and hard work of our doctors,” the CM further added. 

The Delhi Government is issuing an email *[email protected]*. Any person can send in the name of any doctor or healthcare worker who they feel deserves this award with a description of why they think they deserve the award. Any citizen of Delhi can send in names to this email.

“A ‘Search and Screening Committee’ has been made under Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, the committee will screen and decide which names the Delhi Government will recommend to the Central Government. The last date for sending names to the centre is 15 September so we want the responses to come in by 15 August so they can be screened and sent in time,” Shri Kejriwal said.  

Shri Arvind Kejriwal expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the doctors and healthcare staff who served the entire humanity with impeccable commitment during the COVID crisis. “During the pandemic doctors, healthcare workers, para-medical staff helped people a lot and saved their lives. I know many doctors and healthcare workers who did not go home for days. They gave everything they could to save lives and to serve people. I also know a lot of doctors and healthcare workers who got infected while tending to patients and unfortunately were martyred on duty. The entire humanity is indebted to such doctors. No matter how much we thank them, it won't suffice their sacrifice. The Delhi Government is the only government in the country which gave a ‘Samman Rashi’ of Rupees 1 crore to the frontline workers who were martyred on duty,” he said.

The CM concluded by saying, “I again want to thank the medical community and tell them the entire world is grateful to them and this honour is just a small measure to thank them for their service.”