Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday, 11 July 2026, presented special awards to distinguished acupuncture practitioners and professionals at ACUCON 2026, a national conference on acupuncture held in Nagpur. The awards were conferred on behalf of Ayushyaman Acupuncture College and Hospital, Kamthi, Nagpur.

Context

The Chief Minister's Office of Maharashtra shared the event on X, noting that CM Fadnavis personally honoured seven eminent individuals at the conference. The post listed the awardees as Dr. Rumi Beramji, Narayan Navale, Dr. Ritika Guha, Dr. Vaibhav Lunkhad, Umesh Palshikar, Ramakant Deulkar, and Dr. Raman Kapoor. The event was tagged under #ACUCON2026, signalling its national professional standing.

Policy Backdrop

The Ministry of AYUSH, established by the Government of India in November 2014, has been the central institutional driver for promoting traditional and alternative medicine systems, including acupuncture. Maharashtra has actively supported AYUSH-linked colleges and hospitals as part of broader efforts to expand healthcare training infrastructure beyond allopathic systems. Ayushyaman Acupuncture College and Hospital in Kamthi, a town in Nagpur district, represents this institutional push at the state level.

National-level recognition events such as ACUCON align with the central government's goal of standardising acupuncture practice and integrating it into mainstream healthcare delivery. Indian state governments have periodically organised sector-specific conferences of this nature to celebrate contributions in alternative medicine and encourage institutional growth.

Stakeholders and Impact

The seven honourees span a range of roles within the acupuncture and AYUSH ecosystem — from clinical practitioners to researchers and educators. Recognition at a state-level event presided over by the Chief Minister lends significant institutional weight to acupuncture as a healthcare discipline in Maharashtra. For students and practitioners in the AYUSH sector, such high-profile acknowledgement can influence career pathways and institutional investment decisions.

Nagpur, Maharashtra's winter capital, regularly hosts state-level administrative and professional conferences, reinforcing its role as a hub for policy-adjacent events beyond the legislative season.

What's Next

Observers will watch for follow-up announcements from the Maharashtra government on state budget allocations for AYUSH institutions, as well as any regulatory updates on integrating acupuncture services into public health facilities. The visibility given to Ayushyaman Acupuncture College and Hospital, Kamthi at this event may also signal potential state support for expanding its infrastructure or academic programmes.