et me continue the journey of Indian Pediatrics
further between March 1990-1994. Dr RK Puri, Professor and Head,
Pediatrics, Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi took over the reins
of Indian Pediatrics from Dr RN Srivastava. Dr. Puri was completely new
to the editorial board of Indian Pediatrics. As a member of his
editorial team, I was impressed by his dedication to the journal and
continuous attempt to improve its quality. In his very first
communication ‘From the Editors Desk’ in March 1990 issue, Dr Puri
emphasized the need of Medical Education and started a new
Section of Continuing Medical Education (CME) in the journal [1]. He
also mentioned his plans to organize workshops for the benefit of post
graduate students and junior members of the faculty.
Year 1990
The journal published an interesting article in May
issue on prenatal diagnosis of chromosomal disorders in amniotic fluid
[2]. A special article for the first time assessed the manpower
requirement specially focusing on pediatric population for various
health facilities to achieve Health for All by 2000 AD [3]. The August
issue published first article on HIV infection in the pediatric age
group which mentioned that no case of pediatric AIDS has been reported
from India, a problem which is now seen commonly. This article aimed at
enlightening the health personnel about this disease and mentioned WHO
case definition for AIDS and CDC classification of HIV infection in
children [4]. Presidential address by Dr SC Arya during IAP National
Conference at Bangalore, published in July issue highlighted the need
for a standard uniform ORS formula, need for the special care of Girl
Child in the "Year of the Girl Child" and need for determining proper
age of starting schooling in children [5]. Subsequent to this, September
issue published proceedings of a seminar on recommendations for the
proper composition of Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS) and another
article in December issue on optimal content of ORS with reduced sodium
and low osmolarity [6]. This also formed the basis of presently
available low osmolarity WHO ORS.
In the pursuit of his interest in medical education,
Dr Puri proposed to add two new sections of ‘Viewpoint’ and ‘Medical
Education’ from the coming year for the benefit of young pediatricians.
Year 1991
The journal focused on pediatric subspecialty topics
and included renal problems (January), cardiac problems (February) and
growth and development (March). The March issue also had an important
editorial on advantages of indigenous weaning food technologies over
imported ones [7]. In the same issue there is an appeal and a proforma
for "Vaccine Preventable Disease Surveillance" by Chairperson of IAP
Committee on Immunization, a task which is akin to the current IDSurv
program of IAP being pursued so vigorously. The April issue focused on
multi drug resistant typhoid fever, a problem still to be solved. May
issue had an article on drugs used in the treatment of childhood
psychiatric disorders, an important topic but published rarely. With
this issue the journal also started another new column of "Selected
Abstracts" which presented selective but important material published in
some other journals mostly the foreign journals. June issue of the
journal focused on poliomyelitis with an editorial by RN Basu and
adverse events following immunization (AEFI) by Jotna Sokhey. Polio
eradication was mentioned for the first time which has now become a
reality. A detailed plan of various activities and strategies to achieve
polio eradication were specified [8,9]. Baroda Development Screening
Test [10] and Trivandrum Developmental Screening Chart (TDSC) were also
published in this issue. Editor’s Desk highlighted the achievements of
Indian Pediatrics which was rated to be amongst the Four Best in the
country by an ICMR survey which took into account the scientific
content, print quality, regularity, indexing, circulation, etc. The
International standing of Indian Pediatrics also showed a perceptible
improvement. December issue carried on editorial on National Child
Health Policies and Recommendations of IAP-IPA-WHO-UNICEF workshop on
strategies and approaches for women’s health, child health and family
planning for the decade of nineties which outlined the road map for
priorities in this area for the next ten years [11].
An advertisement featuring Dr. Arvind Taneja for
computerization of medical records was published, an idea about what was
there in store in future and now it has become a common phenomenon. Till
now, advertisements of Infant Milk Food (IMF) products appeared in
various issues of the journal, a practice which is now prohibited by
law. A notable change was appearance of color advertisements in the
journal.
Year 1992
In his first message, the editor had put proposal to
add 3 new sections on Medical Education, Epidemiology, and National
Health Services in the forthcoming issues. An article in February issue
on computer programs in pediatrics highlighted use of computers in many
medical fields like literature search, clinical data management, fetal
and neonatal monitoring, medical imaging, pediatric education etc. An
interesting article in CME section "Do exclusively breast fed infants
need fluid supplementation" adequately emphasizes the fact that
exclusively breast fed healthy infants do not need supplemental fluids
to maintain water homeostasis [12]. Supplementation in the form of water
and tea in early infancy is associated with risks of increased diarrheal
morbidity and mortality and premature termination of breastfeeding. The
June issue had an Editorial ‘Undergraduate Pediatrics Education in
India’ in which Dr Indra Bhargava had emphasized the need for up grading
of the status of Pediatrics to a major subject in the UG curriculum [13]
which has now become a reality. July issue editorial by Dr S Ghosh
emphasized that time has come when we must focus our attention on our
youth specially the young girls. From September issue Editor wanted to
start a regular section on Pediatric Surgery in response to an editorial
"In search of Recognition" by a Pediatric Surgeon. In the October issue
Growth charts prepared by Dr K N Agrawal were published which has been a
landmark study. These charts are being used in various research schemes
and other studies as Reference Charts [14]. This year the size of the
journal increased to accommodate more articles (total 1636 pages with
single October issue containing 144 pages) thus giving more authors an
opportunity to publish their research work in Indian Pediatrics.
Year 1993
January issue had an article on "Training of
MBBS Final year students in neonatal resuscitation" which emphasized the
need of this training in undergraduate curriculum. The same has been now
been introduced by Govt of India as NRP training for all medical
officers to further reduce neonatal mortality to achieve MDG4 Goals. If
this is done during MBBS posting, no repeat training will be required.
In February issue in Presidential address Dr Meharban Singh informed
that "our cherished dream of according Pediatrics the status of an
independent discipline in UG medical teaching has been fulfilled with
Medical Council of India agreeing to our proposal [15]. A Report of the
sub committee for curriculum in Pediatrics for UG medical education was
published which formed the basis of uniform theory and clinical teaching
and examination system for UG students [16]. May issue had a Special
article "Child care in India" by Dr. C Gopalan in which he has described
a Child Development Model (of an ascending spiral) that Japan has
successful pursued. However, as far as India is concerned, no
significant secular trend was still discernible at least among the poor
communities. He also described challenges in Child Health Care in India.
Focusing on adolescence, school age and pre school age periods [17].
Article on experience with OSCE as a tool for formative evaluation in
Pediatrics was very informative and formed the basis of introducing it
in DNB examination by the National Board of Examinations. Highlight of
the July issue was "Commendation for Indian Pediatrics" which received
the award for the "Best Indian Medical Journal" (Fig. 1).
|
Fig. 1 Commendation for Indian Pediatrics.
|
Year 1994
January issue emphasized the need for rotavirus
vaccine in India, an issue which is still being debated. Later a review
article was also published in the same year on this issue. The March
issue highlighted the proceedings of 8
1. Puri RK. From the Editor’s desk. Indian
Pediatr.1990;27:225.
2. Verma IC, Mathew S, Elango R. Khanna I. Prenatal
diagnosis of chromosomal disorders in Delhi. Indian
Pediatr.1990;27:459-62.
3. Mittal SK, Ramji S. Child health and manpower:
2000 AD. Indian Pediatr.1990;27:549-56.
4. Bhakoo ON, Shenoi A. HIV infection in the
pediatric age group. Indian Pediatr. 1990;27:891-9.
5. Arya SC. XXVII National Conference of Indian
Academy of Pediatrics, Bangalore. Indian Pediatr. 1990;27:671-5.
6. Sachdev HPS, Puri RK. Oral rehydration therapy of
neonates and young infants: optimal content of oral rehydration
solution. Indian Pediatr. 1990; 27:1333.
7. Gopaldas T. Technologies to improve weaning foods
in developing countries. Indian Pediatr. 1990;27: 217-21.
8. Basu RN. Poliomyelitis in India. Indian Pediatr.
1991;28: 589-92.
9. Sokhey J. Adverse events following
Immunization:1990. Indian Pediatr. 1991;28: 593-607.
10. Phatak P, Dhapre M, Pandit AN, Kulkarni S. A
study of Baroda development screening test for infants. Indian Pediatr.
1991;28:843.
11. Bhargava SK, Hallman N, Shah PM. Recommendations
of IAP-IPA-WHO-UNICEF workshop on strategies and approaches for women’s
health, child health and family planning for the decade of nineties.
Indian Pediatr. 1991;28:1481-2.
12. Sachdev HPS, Krishna J, Puri RK. Do exclusively
breast fed infants need fluid supplementation? Indian Pediatr.
1992;29:535-40.
13. Bhargava I. Undergradute pediatrics education in
India. Indian Pediatr. 1992;29:661.
14. Agarwal DK, Agarwal KN, Upadhyay SK, Mittal R,
Prakash R, Rai S. Physical and sexual growth of affluent Indian children
from 5 to18 years of age. Indian Pediatr. 1992;29:1203.
15. Singh M. XXX National Conference of Indian
Academy of Pediatrics. Indian Pediatr. 1993;30:141-6.
16. Chhaparwal BC, Walia BNS, Bhargava SK, Puri RK,
Sachdev HPS, Singh T. Report of the sub-committee for curriculum in
pediatrics for undergraduate medical education, Indian Pediatr.
1993;30:408-26.
17. Gopalan C. Child care in India: Emerging
challenges. Indian Pediatr. 1993;30:593-605.
18. Agarwal DK, Agarwal KN. Physical growth in Indian
affluent children (birth -6 years) Indian Pediatr. 1994;31:377-413.