Five members from the medical fraternity, including a nutritionist and two Ayurvedics, have been conferred with the prestigious Padma awards this year. It is for the first time that the award has been conferred on a nutritionist and Ayurveda practitioners.

While Vaid Brihaspati Dev Triguna, a legend in the ancient Indian System of Ayurveda, has been honoured with the Padma Vibhushan, the Padma Bhushan has been bestowed on Dr Purshottam Lal - the man behind Noida's famous Metro Hospitals, Ramesh Kumar, K H Sancheti and nutritionist Coluthur Gopalan.

The Padma Shree awardees among the medical professionals this year include Delhi-based J S Guleria, N P Kochupillai and Ashok Seth, Patna-based Vijay Prakash Singh and Kerala-based Ayurvedic Rajagopalan Krishnan Vaidyan.

"It is an honour to the medical fraternity and profession," said noted cardiologist Lal, who left a flourishing practice in the United States to serve his motherland.

Ashtvaidyan Ayurveda, a city-based NGO of Ayurvedic specialists, welcomed the conferment of Padma awards on two Ayurvedic specialists. "Ayurveda is no more looked at as obscure. The Padma awards have only lent more respectability to the ancient Indian science, which is now being appreciated worldwide," said Naveen Gupta, its president and Panchkarma specialist.