Dr. J. K. Samaria

I wish all of you a very happy and prosperous new year 2011. It is indeed a great pleasure and honor for me as Secretary of Indian Chest Society to write this message for public forum of ICS website. I wish to congratulate Dr. Mohd. Sabir, Editor of the Public Forum of ICS website for making tremendous efforts to create this facility for the convenience of general public. The Indian Chest Society, formed in the year 1980 at Mumbai, is a front line organization of qualified Chest Physicians of the country. Since then the society has come a long way and now has over 1500 Chest Physicians as members on its roll. The main objective of Indian Chest Society is to generate and disseminate knowledge on Respiratory Medicine and to bring together periodically the medical fraternity interested in the Respiratory specialty on one platform.

I am pleased to inform you that Indian Chest Society is successfully conducting training programme for pulmonary technicians in Spirometry for last 2 years. The course was conducted at five centers across the country simultaneously at Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Jaipur and Lucknow in the month of January and February 2009 & 2010. The society has trained and awarded the certificate to more than 220 candidates so far. Now from this year we are adding one more center for the training of pulmonary technicians, keeping activities at previous centers intact. Indian Chest Society is determined to act as a promoter for the academic and training activities not only for technical personnel but also for physicians in the field of Respiratory Medicine in the country.

I am pleased to inform you that Indian Chest Society has successfully conducted its first course on Critical Care & ICU training course for the physicians at Chennai in the month of August, 2010. I appeal to the young as well as senior chest physicians to take the advantages of these training courses, which we are planning to hold at many places from this year. I would like to specially thank Dr. Vijayalakshmi Thanasekaraan, Past President, Indian Chest Society and Course Director for academic activities of the ICS for her dedicated efforts for the successful execution of both the courses.

It is indeed a great pleasure for me to inform you that Indian Chest Society is not only acting as a promoter & facilitator for the academic and clinical activities throughout the year in across the country, but also it is becoming force to be reckoned with among the global giants in the field of Respiratory Medicine. I am delighted to inform you that Indian Chest Society is continuously increasing its international presence. For last three years Indian Chest Society has been setting up its booth in all the prestigious international conferences i.e. ATS, ERS, ACCP and APSR. The society shall continue its international activities in the current year and future as well. The booth of the Indian Chest Society is center for pride and a meeting point for both NRI delegates and Indian delegates attending the conferences.

I am delighted to inform you that Indian Chest Society is the only society in the South Asian region to have such a resounding presence world over. It is my strong belief that with the continuous cooperation and contribution of its members, the society will keep pace with the global advancements and will continue to provide appropriate platform for the guidance for all the physicians practicing respiratory medicine in India and abroad.