Outgoing President—Association of Surgeons of India

Greetings from Mysuru.

Time never stops, so neither should we! As we are coming close to the end of the year, I express my humble pranams to the Almighty for having blessed me with the opportunity to lead this great organisation as its president for the year 2022. I thank the members at large for having faith in me to deliver the goods to the association.

I have strived hard and done everything in my capacity to protect the interest of every member and made sincere efforts towards achieving the aims of the association.

The year began with the pandemic still lurking around and posing significant uncertainties. Many of the programmes had to be done in virtual mode, this year as well. The RRC and NSEP were held with regularity like in the past. I am happy that the team headed by the Director of Academics, Dr. Santhosh John Abraham, did an exemplary job in responding to my request to include the basic procedures in this year’s NSEP to help the junior surgeons who had lost out on opportunity due to COVID-19. Likewise, the RRC had a very good response. The inputs from the expert faculty as well as students from all over the country helped us to make it more interesting and useful.

The ‘Social welfare committee’ has done a commendable job this year under the leadership of its Director Dr. Marudupandian. The number of free surgical camps, the public awareness programmes and cancer screening camps held all across the country are proof of the committee’s contribution, and this has helped the association to meet its objectives.

Most importantly, the official organ of the Association of Surgeons of India—the Indian Journal of Surgery or IJoS, which is the visible forte of our academic activity, has made tremendous progress under the able leadership of our Editor-in-Chief Dr. Sandeep Kumar. The journal earned record revenue, had more than 2000 manuscripts submitted and has made steady progress on all parameters by which a journal is assessed.

ASI has impleaded in a case filed by the IMA in the supreme court challenging the order by the government to permit Ayurvedic doctors to perform various surgeries. This decision was taken keeping in view the risk to the life of patients undergoing surgeries by ill trained health professionals.

It was a God-given opportunity to travel across the country to be part of the various state chapter meetings and their annual conferences. I am happy to say that all our chapters are performing exceptionally well in their overall performance. I witnessed a lot of new vigour and enthusiasm to attend ‘physical’ meetings after a long gap of nearly 3 years caused by the pandemic. I thank everyone for the hospitality and fraternal love shown during my visits. My heartfelt thanks to the Executive committee for their unfailing support.

New Initiatives

The overseas exchange programme has taken a good beginning, thanks to the efforts of Coordinator Dr. Sunil Kumar, EC member. The joint webinar on ‘Management of Acute Cholecystitis’ was held on 25 Nov. 2022. Similarly, to help and guide our younger colleagues, a research workshop was held by a team headed by Dr. Sreekumar, EC member.

The much-needed repair and maintenance work of the fixed assets of the association, our landmark ‘Anna auditorium’ and the office building at Chepauk, Chennai have been taken up, and much of it has been completed to meet the statutory compliance.

The much-awaited annual meet, ASICON 2022, will be held in Mumbai from 21 to 24 December 2022. The local organising committee headed by Dr. Parvez Shaikh, the chairman, Dr. Niranjan Agarwal and the whole team of Mumbai Surgical Society are working with great zeal and enthusiasm to make this mega conference a memorable one. The scientific programme is drafted very extensively keeping in view the need of every member. I am happy to see a record number of over two thousand scientific papers being submitted for presentation during this conference.

I request members to attend this first ‘physical’ ASICON after a long gap of 3 years. Please come in large numbers and utilise this opportunity to share your work and experience and also learn from the others. Let us all meet, greet, have fun and relax after many years of isolation caused by the pandemic.

I wish you all the very best. Thank you once again.

Long live ASI!

Dr G SIDDESH MS FIAS

President 2022Association of Surgeons of India.

Former Professor and HOD, Department of Surgery, JSS medical college.

Former Dean of Faculty in Surgery for PG studies, JSSAHER.

Vice President, Mysore Association of hospitals and Nursing homes (MAHAN).

Vice President, Baden Powell Educational Society.