New Delhi: Former Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) chief Nirmal Kumar Ganguly was Friday named for the Padma Bhushan award.

He is among 18 doctors selected for the prestigious Padma awards this year. An epidemiologist, a researcher and professor of medicine Ganguly has been working for decades in several top medical institutes like National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), Central Government Health Services, National Malaria Eradication Programme.

He has also worked with the World Health Organisation to help it develop Integrated Disease Surveillance system. In 1997,he also was an advisor with the government of Sultanate of Oman.

Apart from Ganguly, Jagjit Singh Chopra, a senior doctor from Chandigarh, has also been named for the Padma Bhushan. Sixteen doctors from Delhi, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Manipur, Maharashtra, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand would receive the Padma Shri awards.

Those who have been named for Padma Shri include Tony Fernadez (Kerala), Indu Bhushan Sinha (Bihar), Randhir Sud (Delhi), Rakesh Kumar Jain (Uttarakhand) and Arjunan Rajasekaran (Tamil Nadu) and Keiki R. Mehta (Maharashtra).

Source : IANS