Dr Padma Gurmet, who directs the National Institute of Sowa-Rigpa in Leh, received the Padma Shri from the President at Rashtrapati Bhavan on June 23, 2026.
That was one of 131 Padma awards announced for 2026, and the only one listed against Ladakh. Peoples Feed counted the state column of the Ministry of Home Affairs list published on January 25, 2026.
Medicine took 15 of the 131 awards, and Ladakh took one. The institute Dr Padma Gurmet directs was approved by the Union Cabinet at an estimated cost of Rs 47.25 crore.
A second government honour followed seven weeks later. A Press Information Bureau release dated August 13, 2026 recorded that Dr Padma Gurmet had received the UT Ladakh State Award for 2025.
The Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh conferred that award at a ceremony covering the years 2022 to 2025. Thirty six people were honoured at it.
The citation is one clause long. It names “the preservation, promotion and development of the Sowa-Rigpa system of medicine in Ladakh”.
What Padma Gurmet directs in Leh
The National Institute of Sowa-Rigpa is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Ayush, and the Union Cabinet approved it for Leh on November 20, 2019.
The Cabinet describes Sowa-Rigpa as “a Traditional Medical system of the Himalayan belt in India”. It is practised in Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Darjeeling, Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh.
The institute started work in October 2020. It was built out of the existing National Research Institute for Sowa-Rigpa, which sat under the Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences.
The Ladakh administration recorded in April 2023 that 45 posts had been sanctioned. Eighteen are Sowa-Rigpa teaching and clinical posts and four are for allopathic doctors.
One more post is a research officer for herbal gardens. The rest are administrative and technical. Dr Padma Gurmet heads all of it.
What neither citation says
Neither government document explains what Dr Padma Gurmet actually did. The Padma list carries a name, a field and a state, and nothing else.
The official list of 66 recipients at the second 2026 investiture ceremony does give written profiles to some awardees. Dr Padma Gurmet sits at number 22 on it with a name and nothing more.
Peoples Feed found no published count of patients treated, students taught or courses run at the Leh institute. The Ministry of Ayush has not put one online.
The designation itself is on the record. The Press Information Bureau named Dr Padma Gurmet as “Director, National Institute of Sowa-Rigpa, Leh” on August 13, 2026.
What this means for you: If you practise or study Sowa-Rigpa in Ladakh, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh or Darjeeling, the Leh institute is now your system’s national body. Its 45 sanctioned posts, approved in April 2023, are where the teaching and clinical jobs sit.
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