Medical Journal Armed Forces India, conceived in January 1945 as the Journal of Indian Army Medical Corps, enters 50th year of publication. Looking back into the history, the journal was conceived in the period of post World War and pre Independence uncertainties regarding the future of the Nation, future of the Corps and the size of Medical Services. Field Marshal CE Auchinlek, GCB, GEIE, DSO, OBE, ADC was then the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces in India. Reflecting on the scenario, Lt Gen Gordon Wilson CB, CBE, MC, KHS, then Director of Medical Services in India, commented in the inaugural issue of the journal, “It is too early yet to speculate on the future size and composition of the post war army, but this I can say, without any shadow of doubt, that I have the deepest faith in the future of the Indian Army Medical Corps”.
It was indeed an achievement to start a journal in those tumultuous days, especially when IAMC was not even 3 years old. The first issue was published by HQ, Indian Army Medical Corps, Pune, under the editorship of Col DR Thapar, OBE (later Maj Gen) and printed at the Times of India Press, Bombay. Subscription for two issues in a year was Rs. 5.00 payable in advance. The first article was ‘Scrub Typhus’ by Brig HL Marriot. Other highlights of the first issue were an appeal from the editor to the authors to be concise keeping in view the acute shortage of paper, and an advertisement inviting qualified medical practitioners to join IAMC as 2nd Lt/Capt at a salary of Rs. 250/550 and Rs. 100 as specialist pay.
Starting from a six-monthly 68-page organ for internal communication within the Corps, it has established itself as a quarterly journal of repute. Initially the emphasis was on Military Medicine and various activities of the Indian Army Medical Corps. Over the years, when the families of Armed Forces personnel joined the dependent clientale and number of specialist officers in various disciplines of Medicine increased, the emphasis shifted. The Journal has now become a regular quarterly medical journal with an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN), printing on offset, Vancouver style, and regular individual despatch to about 5000 subscribers despite their frequent postings. Our abstracts are being published in Biological Abstracts, Excerpta Medica and Tropical Disease Bulletin. We are indexed and abstracted in Index Medicus for South East Asia by World Health Organisation (WHO), and this year onward MJAFI will be internationally available in CD-ROM format alongwith other selected journals as ‘Extra MED’, another venture of WHO.
Again to quote Lt Gen Wilson, “We have made good beginning but much remains to be done. We are still far short of that goal to which we must constantly aspire, that elusive goal ‘perfection’. To appraoch this will require the united efforts of all our members, and I am confident that these efforts will be forthcoming in large measures”.