Presidential Address

PRESIDENT FOGSI-2016

PRESIDENT GESI-2011-continuing

PRESIDENT DGES 2014–16

PRESIDENT AOGD 2013–14

“Padma Shri” by President India-2015

Dr B C Roy National Award “Eminent Medical Teacher”, 2007

IMA Medachievers Award 2014

DMA Medical Teachers Award-2005

DMA Chikitsa Ratan Award 2014

Rashtriya Gaurav Award-2007

Respected Chief guest Honorable Cabinet Health Minister Dr. J.P. Nadda, Guest of Honor Professor Dr. Ram Shankar Katheria, Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Government of India, (Higher Education), Mrs. Kirron Kher (Member of Parliament for Chandigarh). Immediate past president Dr. Prakash Trivedi, chairperson of 59th AICOG Dr. Narendra Malhotra, outgoing Vice-Presidents Dr. Rekha Kurian, Dr. Uday Thanawala, Dr. Sujata Mishra, Dr. Anupam Gupta, Dr. Sarita Agarwal. My team Vice-Presidents Dr. Bharati Dhorepatil, Dr. Sadhana Gupta, Dr. Vineet Mishra, Dr. Revathy Janakiram, Dr. Ashis Mukopadhyay, Secretary General of FOGSI Dr. Hrishikesh Pai, Deputy Secretary General Dr. Jaydeep Tank, Treasurer Dr. Madhuri Patel, Jt Treasurer Dr. Suvarna Khadilkar, Jt Secretary Dr. Garima Kachhawa. Organizing secretary of AICOG Dr. Jaideep Malhotra, scientific chairperson Dr. Saroj Singh, and full organizing committee of 59th AICOG, Past Presidents of FOGSI, International faculty, all other dignitaries on and off the dias, fellow FOGSIANS, our pharma colleagues, my dear family, ladies, and gentlemen…

Today as I stand here, by the grace of the almighty and the will of my esteemed associates, as the 59th president of FOGSI, I accept this great responsibility with all humility, with the eagerness of a novice but with a resolve of steel and with a hope to bring about a change.

It is indeed a great moment of pride and a personal achievement to have been elected to this prestigious post. I wish to thank every one of you for your unconditional love, support, and trust. I promise to do my level best to uphold all that this mammoth organization FOGSI stands for, and with your help and support, take our organization to even greater heights. Together we will make this year a memorable one by infusing hope and enthusiasm and bring about a change in women’s health care in India.

I owe great debt of gratitude to my parents. They can see me today from the stars and would be very proud of me.

I am indebted to my teachers specially Dr. V. Dave, Dr. Kamal Buckshee Dr. D. Takkar… who saw potential in me years ago and it was they who ignited the fire and passion in my soul and made me what I am today. I am eternally grateful to all my teachers, as I would not have seen this day without their support.

I am blessed to have a wonderful team of faculty in my Department at AIIMS, Delhi, which is my backbone, it is a big department with lot of workload, all of them actually help me in its smooth functioning.

All my students far and wide in India and overseas have bestowed so much love and affection, which I cannot repay in this lifetime at least. As a teacher and thesis guide, I have enjoyed every bit of teaching and training them all. I’ve always felt young and a bundle of energy in their company. I take pride in sharing that so many of my students are heading the departments in many institutions, many are carrying the legacy of endoscopy forward, and providing quality services to patients far and wide.

A big thanks to my Delhi family and AOGD, my parent organization with whom I am associated for the last 28 years. They provided me the encouragement, motivation, and the opportunity to work for the betterment of this society, which made my tenure as President AOGD most cherishable for me.

Presidents who preceded me cultivated this legacy of academic perfection and innovation that has left a profound mark on all of us. So, we are looking further by standing on the shoulders of the giants (very well said by Newton). I thank them and am humbled to follow their example. And with help from all of you, we will extend and enhance FOGSI’s remarkable legacy. I am very fortunate to be joined by many of these renowned stalwarts today. I personally have learnt and gained a huge amount of wisdom from my many respected friends across the country. I am also thankful to each and every one of them for their friendship, teaching, and time.

A very special thanks to special people who are my backbone and instrumental in my journey through FOGSI.

I am fortunate to be joined today by my family, who have supported me at every step. Most importantly, I want to acknowledge the love of my life, my husband Dr. Ajay Kumar Kriplani; without whom, I would never have reached where I am standing today. His unconditional love and support has been instrumental in shaping up my career. He is my Friend, Philosopher Guide, mentor, critic, and pillar of my strength. It is a great feeling to know whatever might happen, he is always there for me.

FOGSI and My Association

FOGSI is a mammoth organization with 235 member societies and 31,100 fellow members. We all are so proud of FOGSI, it has grown from strength to strength and is held in high esteem both nationally and internationally. My journey with the prestigious and largest organization, FOGSI, dates back to three decades.

Let Me Introduce My Team Members

FOGSIANS, I am truly blessed to have an excellent, enthusiastic, and committed team of valuable gems who will work in close liaison to give you a memorable year and together as a team we will achieve all that we want to in the year 2016. My five extremely talented Vice-Presidents Dr. Bharati Dhorepatil, Dr. Sadhana Gupta, Dr. Vineet Mishra, Dr. Revathy Janakiram, and Dr. Ashis Mukopadhyay. FOGSI Office Bearers (the pillars of FOGSI), Team ICOG-2016 (academic wing of FOGSI), Committee Chairpersons-2016 (who are like Cabinet Ministers of FOGSI).

I extend my hand toward you for your continual support and cooperation, I’m sure you will reciprocate because only as a team, we can make a difference. I believe that each one of you is a champion to work toward the cause of women and mothers in a holistic manner. “If you want to walk fast, walk alone. But if you want to go far, walk together with others”.

It is great honor to be installed at Agra, city of Taj. The relationship of Taj to the subject of Obstetrics and Gynecology is very close, as it was built by Shahjahan in the memory of his queen Mumtazmahal who died in 1631 during 14th childbirth. Our current Shahjahan and Mumtazmahal have again created the magic by building this 59th AICOG program and the venue, and we, FOGSIANS, are going to enjoy Taj as well as 59th AICOG at Agra. I have no words to praise and thank the entire team of AICOG Agra under the leadership of my dear friends Dr. Narendra and Dr. Jaideep Malhotra who have relentlessly worked hard to put up this 59th AICOG. This is the second time they have created this magic after very successful 47th AICOG in 2004.

FOGSI Vision

“FOGSI to be the lead organisation working towards advocating and promoting women’s health and reproductive rights using scientific evidence and following the highest ethical standards through it’s membership of committed professionals”.

FOGSI Mission

FOGSI supports and protects the interests of practitioners of OBG in India.

FOGSI encourages dissemination of knowledge & education as well as research in the field of OBG in India.

FOGSI works to pilot and promote preventive & therapeutic services related to health care of women and children.

FOGSI also serves to advocate the cause of reproductive and sexual health and rights.

FOGSI considers the reduction of maternal mortality in India as its primary mission

The theme for 2016 is: “Preventing the Preventable, Bridging Gaps in Women Healthcare.”

TO PREVENT IS TO PREEMPT “The greatest medicine of all is to teach people how not to need it!!”

As they say “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of Cure.” “It is the basic premise that disease is the end result of the failure of prevention.”

Hence focusing on the preventables in the women’s health care, it is my heartfelt desire to work toward preventing and bringing down the maternal mortality, unmet need for contraception and the genital malignancies

Dying to give birth is the ultimate paradox!

This would be what a mother would implore for her unborn child, even if she has to die for it.

Before you were conceived I wanted you. Before You were born I loved you. Before you were here an hour, I would die for you. This is the miracle of mother’s love… —Maureen hawkins

Obstetrics as a branch of medicine is very special, we deal with mothers and not patients, we bring forth life, we deal in happiness and joy. Surviving childbirth is a fundamental right of every women. How can we let them die?

All over the world, 500,000 mothers died in 1 year, deaths that could have been prevented, that one woman missing every minute of everyday. Every life lost creates a ripple effects devastating entire families.

Just talking about our country, India is still one of the most dangerous places to give birth! One woman dies every 8 min from a pregnancy-related cause. With 60,000 women dying every year, 3,50,000 children are orphaned, 90,000 families are devastated. Though the figures show that the mortality has dropped by 66 % from 1990 to 2010, India still has by far the highest number of women dying during childbirth on the planet each year.

This is not to say the efforts are any less. The MDGs and SDGs are proof of the fact that maternal health is of prime concern to the authorities at the highest levels. The causes of mortality have been looked into many times over. The government programs promoting institutional deliveries have really made a dent on the mammoth problem.

Women are not dying because of disease we cannot treat. They are dying because societies have yet to make the decision that their lives are worth saving.—Prof. M. Fathalla

Unfortunately, this statement still stands true in many countries.

Faced with such seemingly daunting task, we might tend to belittle our efforts. But Mother Teresa once said “We know only too well that what we are doing is nothing more than a drop in the ocean. But if the drop were not there the ocean would be missing something.”

So, every effort counts especially coming from us, because we are caregivers. It might not be in the literal sense of the connection till the last mile but I firmly believe that if each and everyone of this elite organization is aware and committed to the cause, we can bring about a change.

Never Doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has. We are that group. We are together those agents of change that we so want to see.

To address only pregnancy and postpartum issues is like looking at the tip of the iceberg. Lets have a 360-degree view of the problem. Let’s start where it all starts…, with the girl child… are we doing enough for her?

“A healthy girl begets a healthy mother.” There is the problem of adolescent anemia and malnutrition which is prevalent in an alarming proportion of girls. To combat this huge problem, we have decided to run a countrywide project PRAYAAS with Strides pharma for spreading anemia awareness among community including adolescents, school teachers by campaigning in school, colleges, organizing youth melas. We will also increase awareness by sending bulk messages on mobile phones. We are going to propose good clinical practice recommendations. In this regard, two meetings have already been held on September 18 and December 4, 2015. We shall celebrate anemia day every year on September 18, when we pledge to check Hb of all around us. We will also be publishing FOGSI FOCUS dedicated to anemia. I will be joined in this endeavor by my college Dr. Hema Diwakar who is passionate about eradicating anemia.

Project “Naari Shakti: Preventive health care for Indian women.” We are also going to start a certification program on Maternal and Neonatal Heath and Nutrition in collaboration with India’s pioneering medical associations. There will be experts from multi-specialities including gynecology, endocrinology, and nutrition.

Before looking into the inadequacies of pre- and postnatal care, it is important whether she wanted to get pregnant in the first place. And why is that she is unable to regulate her reproductive life.

As Margarate Sanger said “No women can call herself free who does not control her body. No woman can call herself free until she can choose whether or not she will be a mother.”

Globally, 220 million women have unmet need of contraception leading to 21.6 million unsafe abortions and 400 maternal deaths for every 100000 abortions. If we address this unmet need of 44 % women, we can reduce maternal deaths by two-thirds. India has a TFR of 2.6 which can only be controlled by effective contraception. On this platform, I appeal to you to join me in wholeheartedly supporting these endeavors and doing our bit for the women kind. By educating them, respecting them, empowering them, investing in them, and protecting them, we can bring this maternal mortality down by no less than 80 %.

Let us pledge to improve maternal health care by educating and sensitizing every OBGYN Clinician to follow evidence-based practices.

To achieve this goal, FOGSI will continue to run one-day certification program GESTOSIS on management of hypertensive disorders in pregnancy. There will be FOGSI GOI project on Comprehensive Strategies for Management of PPH. This will be continuum of good work started by my friend & past president Dr. Suchitra Pandit. We will be conducting workshops on PPH, Hemorrhage in Pregnancy across the country to upgrade knowledge & skills of our fellow FOGSIANS.

Looking beyond pregnancy and its complications, another mammoth problem due to which women are needlessly dying is the problem of gynecological cancers. The most common being cervical cancer which affects about 23 per 100,000 women in India per year.

India attributes to 27 % of all cervical cancer deaths in the world. One out of every four women dying due to cancer cervix is an Indian. With the availability of primary and secondary prevention, it is possible to prevent nine out of the 10 deaths attributable to it. What we need is to be aware and be committed and motivated that each and every woman who comes in contact with the caregiver is at least advised a basic screen and possibly HPV vaccine.

Bridging the Gaps: FOGSI CME/Workshops/Conferences

I firmly believe that knowledge is the panacea for all our woes.

“If you have the knowledge, let others light the candles in it”

The reality is that there is such a marked disparity between the various levels of health facilities in our country. On one side are the swanky corporates or the highly academic tertiary care referral centers doing path breaking research while on the other end of the spectrum are the most basic health facilities which are manned by people who can barely be called trained. With the political will from governments at large, it is not the infrastructure that we lack, what is really missing is the availability of the skilled health care providers.

It is my ardent wish and passion to bring standardization in training and education and academic enrichment by disseminating knowledge through FOGSI Conferences and CMEs, workshops and certification courses and providing Good Clinical Practice recommendations. At the same time, basic training courses would be made available for training doctors and paramedical staff in giving quality health care.

Teaching and training has been my motto ever since I joined AIIMS nearly three decades back. Teaching in our medical colleges also needs the advancement, and we should provide best possible training to our youngsters. We will be running PG teaching programs with the name FORCE & EXCEL. We will also be conducting PG lecture series on Uro-Gynae, Anemia management and Skill development and certification programs in various medical colleges.

For our members, we will be organizing certification courses on important clinical subjects as OC, PCOS, AUB-HMB, GDM. We will be formulating and releasing GCPR (Good Clinical Practice Recommendations) on relevant topics such as anemia, AUB, endometriosis, preconception care, nutrition, and prevention of cervical cancer.

There will be seven FOGSI FOCUSes on very interesting topics PCOS, Endometriosis, Anemia in pregnancy and Adolescents, Preconception and Antenatal care Update, Pelvic floor dysfunction, Amniotic fluid, Antepartum hemorrhage, and a book on Contraception.

We will be organizing multiple workshops for skill enhancement such as Hysteroscopy, Ultrasonography, TOT, PPH, and Infertility management.

We will conduct CMEs on different topics.

No.	Topic	No.	Sponsor	Faculty in-charge
1	Recurrent pregnancy loss/PCOS	25	Sun spectra	Dr. Bharati Dhorepatil
2	Endometriosis	20–25	Pharmanova	Dr. Ramani Devi
3	Saving uterus	50	Torrent pharma	Dr. Bharati Dhorepatil, Dr. Anita Singh
4	Thyroid disorders in pregnancy		Abbott	Dr. Revathy Janakiram, Dr. Anita Singh
5	Infertility webinar		Glenmark	Dr. Sonia Malik
6	Obesity	25	UHC	Dr. Pushpa Sethi Dr. Revathy Janakiram
7	Young talent communication skills			Dr. Vineet Mishra, Dr. Geeta Balsarkar
8	Gynact conclave (high risk obst)		Alkem pharma	Dr. Ashis Mukopadhyaya, Dr. Hrishikesh Pai
9	Mother’s project		Merck/JHPIEGO	Dr. Hema Divakar, Dr. Bulbul Sood
10	Anemia management and high risk pregnancy	4	Emcure	Dr. Vineet Mishra, Dr. Bharati Dhorepatil

For the benefit of members, other pertinent activities such as KAVACH, violence against women, PC-PNDT, cervical cancer and Toxoplasmosis awareness program will be organized.

Year 2016 will bring a bonanza of academic feast for you all throughout the year.

S. no	Date	Conference subject	Venue
1	February 12–14	CRITICAL CARE Dr. Pratima Mittal, Dr. Alpesh Gandhi	Delhi
2	March 4–6	YUVA FOGSI, West Zone-ADOLESCENT HEALTH Dr. Sudhir Shah, Dr. Vineet Mishra, Dr. Niraj Jadav	Rajkot
3	March 18–20	High Risk Pregnancy, Obstetrics Sonography Modern Technology Dr. Rajendrasing Pardeshi, Dr. Bharati Dhorepatil	Aurangabad
4	April 1–3	YUVA FOGSI, North Zone Medical Disorders in Pregnancy, Fertility Optimization Dr. Archana Verma, Dr. Sadhana Gupta	Ghaziabad
5	April 9–10	GOAL-Current Practices In Obs & Gynae Dr. Alka Kriplani, Dr. Garima Kachhawa, Dr. Bharati Dhorepatil	Delhi
6	April 15–17	SAFOG with FOGSI, Dr. Narendra Malhotra	Mumbai
7	April 22–24	HIGH RISK PREGNANCY Dr. Alka Kriplani, Dr. Sukanta Mishra, Dr. Ashis Mukhopadhyay	Kolkata
8	April 30	Managing Committee meeting	Gurgaon
8	April 30, May 1	Workshop-Endoscopy, Conference on Midlife Dr. Ragini Agarwal, Dr. Suman Yadav,Dr. Pushpa Sethi	Gurgaon
9	May 20–22	YUVA FOGSI, South Zone-Obstetric Dilemmas Dr.Shanthi, Dr.Senthiru Ramachandran, Dr. Revathy Janakiram	Kodaikanal
10	June 24–26	FOGSI FIGO Conference on Best Practices, Breakthoughs & Current Dilemmas in OBGYN (FOGSI FIGO BBC) Dr. CN Purandare, Dr. Alka Kriplani, Dr. Charuchandra Joshi,Dr. Pankaj Sarode, Dr. Bharati Dhorepatil	Pune
11	July 8–10	FABCON -Fertility and Beyond Dr. Suman Mittal, Dr. Vineet Mishra	Jaipur
12	July 22–24	National Conf. Endometriosis Enigmatic disease- Educate, Empower & Eradicate Dr. Ramani Devi, Dr. Revathy Janakiram	Trichy
13	July 30–31	FOGSI GYNAE-ONCOLOGY 2016 “A Wider Horizon In The Frontiers Of Cancer” Dr. Alka Kriplani, Dr. Neerja Bhatla,Dr. Priya Ganesh Kumar	Goa
14	August 5–7	ENDOFERT-Endoscopy & Infertility-Basic & Advanced Dr. Alka Kriplani, Dr. Garima Kachhawa	Delhi
15	August 20–21	GOAL-Current Practices in OBGYN Dr. Alka Kriplani, Dr. Mahesh Gupta	Udaipur
16	August 27–28	FOGSI ICOG Conference on Fertility Regulation Dr. Alka Kriplani, Dr. Shantha Kumari, Dr. Krishnendu Gupta	Hyderabad
17	September 2–4	Conference: Medicolegal Update Dr. Geetendra Sharma, Dr. Hitesh Bhatt, Dr. Sanjay Gupte	Ahmedabad
18	September 17–18	Managing Committee Meeting	Mumbai
19	October 7–9	Core Committee meeting	Goa
20	October 21–23	National Conference:Saving Mothers- Preventing the Preventable Dr. Ranjana Khanna, Dr. Sadhana Gupta	Allahabad
21	November 11–13	NEOGSCON Dr. Arun Madho Barua, Dr. Vineet Mishra	Shillong
22	November 18–20	Conference-Management of LABOUR Dr. Nandita Palshetkar, Dr. H.D. Pai	Mumbai
23	December 2–4	Conference-Urogynaecology- Update 2016 Dr. Vineet Mishra	Ahmedabad
24	December 16–18	YUVA FOGSI, East Zone Preventing The Preventable Dr. Sushanta K. Das, Dr. Amitava Pal, Dr. Ashis Mukhopadhyay	Bardhaman

FOGSI will work in liaison with other organizations namely GOI, PSI, PHFI, IPAS, NNF, JHPIEGO, WHO

Let our efforts be a catalyst for the change we want to see in every healthy mother and child. I invite you all to be a part of this change!

FOGSI for Women

“Women hold up half the sky.” But women worldwide are not treated with the respect and dignity they deserve.

“If the 19^thcentury was about abolition of slavery; 20^thabout putting an end to the racial discrimination; the 21st century is about bringing gender equality; today is about women empowerment!!”

Centuries have come, and centuries have gone, but the plight of women has not changed. Over 1/3 women worldwide have been a victim of physical and/or sexual violence. In most extreme cases, violence against women can lead to death; around 2/3 victims of intimate partner or family-related homicides are women. But 60 % of all women victims of violence still do not report it or seek any help. According to a report by Thomas Reuters, India is ranked fourth among the most dangerous countries for women, which is a real pity.

The UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon said “We cannot achieve our 2030 Agenda for sustainable development without full and equal rights for half of the world’s population in law and in practice”

Keeping in view the alarming state of the women worldwide, gender equality and empowering women have been included as the SDG-5 reiterating the prime importance that needs to be given to this aspect. The heinous practice of female feticide that plagues our country makes my heart bleed and proves how brutal the world can be to women. Being a mother to two daughters, I wish to remind every parent that a girl child is a blessing, a bundle of treasure sent from God!

FOGSI has taken the lead, and we need to launch a nationwide campaign to reignite India’s core values and traditions that respect and nurture women and children because action from courts and police will not suffice if the community remains defiantly opposed to change. As President FOGSI, my aim will be to spread awareness through campaigns, which will focus on fighting illiteracy, sexual harassment, and violence against women.

A society that is unable to respect, protect and nurture its women and children loses its moral moorings and runs adrift (The Hindu—Opinion Sept, 15 2012)

With FOGSI, let us set a benchmark for all of its societies with objectivized expectations. We emphasize involvement of all member societies with active participation of committee chairpersons to encourage academic enrichment and spread of evidence-based practice, and bring about uniformity in teaching and training. Let us unite in one direction to bring and welcome this change!

In closing, let me say this: I will do my best, but I cannot do it alone. Let your voice be heard, let us be fellow travellers in this path leading to equitable health, opportunity, and power to the women and girls of our country. It is time for us to join hands and commit ourselves together to a rebirth of the spirit because “Individually we are a drop, together we are an ocean. Working together with our common faith we cannot fail.”

All birds find shelter during a rain but eagle avoids rain by flying above the clouds.—Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. Let’s be that eagle and fly above our problems to conquer them.

I see history as a book with many pages, and each day we fill a page with acts of hopefulness and meaning. The new breeze blows, a page turns, the story unfolds. And so today a chapter begins, a story of unity, diversity, and generosity—of knowledge shared, and dreams written and realized together.

Mittron ke samman prem ka, kann-kann mera abhaari hai !

Ashaaon per khara utarna, ab yeh zimmedari hai!!

Long Live FOGSI!!

Dr. Alka Kriplani

President, FOGSI-2016