istinguished invited guests,
faculty members, teachers and seniors; Fellows and members of Indian
Academy of Pediatrics (IAP); Members of the press; Colleagues, friends,
ladies and gentlemen. With immense sense of gratitude for all of you, I
hereby dedicate my life to the service of this lovely creation of God,
mentioned aptly as "Today" by Gabriela Mistral, and step to the post of
President of this prestigious and most academic body of doctors of the
country, the Indian Academy of Pediatrics, which is second largest
association of pediatricians in the world, with more than 30 000
members.
Friends, from the day I had the opportunity to see
from close quarters how the Academy functions, I have stood in awe at
the remarkable leadership qualities of our past leaders and their way of
making things happen. I stood in admiration at their vision, working and
their standing in IAP. Standing here before an audience comprising
individuals with such great wisdom, experiences and achievements, to
deliver my inaugural speech as President of the IAP, is both the
grandest moment in my life, and the moment that I am most aware of the
enormity of the responsibility this appointment brings.
Friends, at this juncture, I consider it my paramount
duty to thank you all – the members of the Academy – in all humility for
the confidence you have placed in me, and for having struck a chord of
unanimity in electing me as your president. First of all, I vow to you
that I will do my utmost to fulfill my responsibilities to ensure the
healthy life of all children of the nation and further development of
the IAP to promote health and well-being of children.
Doctors are considered as Friends, Philosophers and
Guides. We do act friendly and guide, but most do not act as
philosophers and philanthropist, though we have many opportunities which
people cannot have easily in any other profession. We are lucky that we
can have experience of both ‘swaarth’ and ‘parmaarth’
through same actions.
Meaning – "Our ultimate selfishness lies in public
interest. Who organizes the pleasures of others, his griefs are
destroyed on their own."
Friends believe me, if we think beyond treatment of
disease, and children coming to us not merely as clients or diseased
individuals, surely, we can overcome routine frustrations; it can even
improve our practice and income. Thus, we contribute to global peace and
prosperity.
Mr. Amitabh Bachchan, who was supposed to be the
Chief Guest of today’s function, often used this dialogue in his movies
–‘‘
’’ – promoting breastmilk, the
nectar and foundation of lifelong health.
Friends, there are many gray areas either not taught
or not studied but daily we have to deal with them – communication,
counseling, behavior modification, parenting etc. We do have
emerging challenges of this century like the non-communicable diseases –
Obesity, malnutrition, substance abuse, suicide, accidents and net
addiction. In fact, these are as contagious as communicable diseases but
through a different angle. They are contagious through behaviors and
lifestyles. We need to address these, and under IAP action plan, we have
strategic plans focusing on these problems.
India is a highly populous country, and that is why
we have a large volume of clinical work both in public sector as well as
in private health sector facilities. We have genius doctors working in
both sectors. Unfortunately, still we lack in our own data; we lack in
research from Indian context. For an average practitioner, research has
been made to look a difficult pasture to graze. I wish to see a paradigm
shift in this, and feel that it is time for IAP to come forward for
promoting research in our country as research is the lifeline of modern
medicine. I would like the pediatricians to develop a mindset of
research in daily practice. Let many do it; may it be of any level from
observations to interventions to innovations.To foster a research
environment amongst the undergraduate medical students, pediatric
postgraduate students, young pediatric faculty and private
practitioners, under IAP Action Plan 2019-20, the Indian Academy of
Pediatrics has initiated IAP Research Awards for the undergraduate
medical students, postgraduate students of pediatrics, young faculty and
private practitioners.
Other key areas where I feel we need to work is
strengthening image of IAP in community by conducting various
community-oriented activities like: Adopting Anganwadi (Project AANGAN –
Anganwadi Approach to Nutrition, Growth and Nurturing); Adopting
Village; Developing Child safety modules such as Medical Emergency
Management in Schools (MEMS); Child sexual abuse prevention modules; and
Newborn hearing screening program. I am happy to inform to the house
that we have entered into a Memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the
International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC) for a
large program on creating awareness regarding ‘Child sexual abuse’ and
we have already conducted three sensitization and awareness programs for
doctors at Bangalore, Noida and Patna.
IAP is expanding its presence and area of working
beyond the boundaries of our country. We have entered into an MOU with
Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) for two years
fellowship courses in pediatric subspecialties to be carried out in UK,
and the first batch academic term will start by August 2019. We will be
sharing our modules with various South Asian countries, and we will
extend training to healthcare workers of Maldives and Brunie for
Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP). We shall have joint programs of
IAP with American Academy of Pediatrics in Middle-East – East meets
West.
Under digital IAP project, we are happy to come out
with mobile app for immunization (based on IAP Advisory Committee on
Vaccines and Immunization Practices recommendations) for doctors and
parents; we will have smart IAP AADHAR Card – an identity card that will
have QR code; and we will have e-learning platform and e-reporting
platform for reporting of IAP activities.
IAP needs to act as advocate of children, and has to
put strong representation to the Government on few very important
agendas such as: to extend discount in examinations to children with
dyslexia, to make pre-primary and primary education burden-free, and to
represent to the Government to take measures to restrict access of
children to pornographic content on internet.
Friends, IAP for IAPians – how does it sound to you?
I feel IAP should plan members’ welfare schemes such as Group insurance,
Professional indemnity plan, and corporate tie-ups. Jaypee Brothers
Medical Publishers have agreed to offer 30% discount for IAP members on
all of their publications.
We wish to work collaboratively with other
organizations like National Neonatology Forum, Federation of Obstetrics
& Gynecological Societies of India (FOGSI), Indian Association of
Preventive and Social Medicine, National Institute of Nutrition, and
Indian Council of Medical Research. Today, we are to release a joint
statement with FOGSI about early initiation of breastfeeding in
caesarian delivery. IAP is fully committed to complementing government
efforts of reducing the child mortality and morbidity rates, and
furthermore, control the spread of preventable diseases.
Ladies and Gentleman, before I conclude, I have given
you a broad overview of how I will put my priorities. We shall continue
with our academic activities for members through various training
modules and publications. I feel proud to inform you that we have
successfully conducted training of trainers (ToT) workshops for nine new
modules where more than 300 pediatricians were trained as national
trainers.
I am overjoyed indeed, and feel really proud and
greatly honored that with unprecedented support and cooperation from Dr
Santosh Soans (IAP President, 2018) and Dr Bakul Parekh (IAP President
Elect) and you all, as a team we will achieve our goals.
There is much to be done and resources are scarce.
However, the greatest asset we have is our knowledge, creativity, rich
network of IAP branches and dedicated members. If we can give direction
through teamwork in a spirit of commitment and camaraderie, there is no
limit to what we can achieve.
Ladies and gentlemen, I have a dream. I earnestly
request my colleagues to dream with me. Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, the former
President of India, said: "Dream! It will transform into thoughts and
that in turn would result in action." I am confident that I will have
the support of our members, my team and the great minds that adorn our
Academy in implementing programs that we will be developing. It is my
fond hope that my term should be remembered with warmth and appreciation
for delivering more than what has been promised, and making us all proud
to say that "We are IAPians."
Last but not the least, I will take opportunity to
remember my late parents who always encouraged and supported me, my wife
Dr Mona and my daughters Mruga and Dipsa, who stood behind me in my hard
time as well as tolerated my regular absence at home.
I conclude by quoting a favourite chant of mine that
has its roots in the Hindu Sanskrit Vedic Chants.
I regard this as the essence of my profession as a
doctor.
