Gen. Bhardwaj inaugurating the Meeting

The Annual Meeting of the International Academy of Pathology - Indian Division was held on 30th November 2005 at the University Auditorium, Indore, and was well attended by delegates from all parts of India and some overseas delegates.

The Meeting began with a short Inaugural function at which the Chief Guest was the Commissioner Chief Guest was Mr. Ashok Das, the Commissioner of Indore Division, who inaugurated the meeting by lighting the traditional lamp in the distinguished presence of Lt. General J. R. Bhardwaj (President IAP-ID), Dr. Francisco Couto (Secretary & Treasurer IAP-ID) and Dr. Gopal P. Bhagwat (Organizing Secretary). The Proceedings Booklet of the Meeting was released by Lt. Gen. J. R. Bhardwaj.

The Scientific Programme followed immediately after the Inaugural function with the Guest lecture delivered by Dr. Andrew A. Folpe, Associate Professor of Pathology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America (USA), on the topic of "Perivascular Epitheloid Cell Neoplasms: An Overview and Update". Later, Dr. Folpe also conducted an excellent Slide Seminar on "Soft Tissue Pathology - New and not so new". Both the presentations of Dr. Andrew Folpe were highly appreciated by all the delegates present. The IAP-ID expresses its gratitude and thanks to Dr. Andrew Folpe.

Following the Guest Lecture was the excellent Slide Seminar on "Orbital Lesions" ably moderated by Dr. K. S. Ratnakar (Hyderabad). The various cases were beautifully presented and discussed by Dr. K. S. Ratnakar and his other panelists Dr. Geeta K. Vemuganti (Hyderabad), Dr. C. Sundaram (Hyderabad), Dr. Satish (Hyderabad), Dr. Flora Lobo (Mangalore), Dr. Tanuja Shet (Mumbai) and Dr. Medha Tatke (New Delhi). Slide boxes had been provided earlier, at cost, by Dr. Ratnakar to those desirous of pre viewing the slides.

In the post lunch session there was the Symposium on "Placental Pathology" moderated very well by Dr. Rama Gopalan (Chennai). The topic was beautifully discussed by Dr. Rama Gopalan and her panelists Dr. Anita M. Borges (Mumbai), Dr. Kusum Jashnani (Mumbai) and Dr. Vatsala Mishra (Allahabad) and was much appreciated by the audience.

The Scientific Programme of the Annual Meeting was brought out in the form of a Proceedings Booklet, edited by Dr. Francisco Couto, the Secretary & Treasurer of the IAP-ID, and was distributed to the delegates by the Organizers.

The Scientific Programme was followed by the General Body Meeting of the IAP-ID. The President of the IAP-ID Lt. General J. R. Bhardwaj chaired the Meeting and called the Meeting to order. The Secretary & Treasurer Dr. Francisco Couto began by heartily congratulated the President Lt. Gen. J. R. Bhardwaj for having been appointed Member, National Disaster Management Authority, with rank of Minister of State, Government of India. The Secretary & Treasurer Dr. Francisco Couto read out the Annual Report for 2005, the Minutes of the last General Body Meeting held at Pune on 22nd November 2004 as well as the audited statement of accounts for 2005, and these were duly approved by the members. Dr. Francisco Couto, Secretary & Treasurer, having finished his term, and Dr. Subir K. Dutta and Dr. A. V. Deshmukh having finished their 2 year term as Councilors elections were held for these posts. The President Lt. Gen. J. R. Bhardwaj led the General Body in praising the sterling contributions of Dr. Couto to the IAP-ID and in unanimously urging Dr. Francisco Couto to continue to serve the IAP-ID as its' Secretary & Treasurer at least for another term. Lt. Gen. Bhardwaj also announced that the Council of the IAP-ID also unanimously decided that Dr. Francisco Couto should be requested to continue for another term. Dr. Francisco Couto said that since it was the was the unanimous and forceful request of both the Council and General Body he would accept a third term as the Secretary & Treasurer and that he felt honoured and touched by all the affection, support and confidence shown in him by the members. Dr. Francisco Couto thanked the members for this and promised to continue to serve the IAP-ID with dedication and to the best of his ability. For the posts of Councilors, Dr. C. Sundaram (Hyderabad) and Dr. Sujay Prasad (Bangalore) were duly elected. Dr. Sundaram and Dr. Sujay Prasad were were warmly congratulated by Lt. Gen. Bhardwaj, Dr. Francisco Couto and other members present. Dr. Couto also thanked the outgoing Councilors Dr. Subir K. Dutta and Dr. A. V. Deshmukh for their dedicated services to the IAP-ID. It was decided that the IAP-ID Annual Meeting 2006 would be held at Bangalore to be organized by Dr. Sujay Prasad. Besides the Guest Lecture and a Slide Seminar by the invited foreign speaker it was decided that the Slide Seminar would be on "Histopathology of Infections and Infestations" to be moderated by Dr. Pradeep Vaideeshwar (Mumbai) and the Symposium on "Prostate Pathology" to be moderated by Col. S. Satyanarayana (New Delhi). The Mid Year Teaching Programme 2006 was allotted to Dr. Ramdas Naik, Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, and will be a Workshop on "Endocrine Pathology". The 9th IAP-ID Annual CME 2006 was allotted to Dr. Anjali Amrapurkar, T N Medical College & B Y L Nair Hospital, Mumbai, on the topic "Endoscopic Biopsies".

The Secretary & Treasurer Dr. Francisco Couto announced that a new website, www.iapid.org, was started by Dr. John Marshall Johnson, Bangalore. The website was designed and is being maintained by Dr. Johnson and, on behalf of the IAP-ID, Dr. Couto expressed thanks and sincere appreciation to Dr. Johnson for his efforts and contribution to the IAP-ID. Dr. Couto, Secretary & Treasurer IAP-ID, also thanked Dr. Johnson too starting and maintaining the previous website of the IAP-ID for the past several years.

Dr. Francisco Couto, Secretary & Treasurer, informed that as per the decision of the IAP the International subscription fees would be increased to US Dollars 6 from 2006 from the current US Dollars 4. This would involve an increase in the membership fee for the IAP-ID members as had already been informed to the members and agreed during the General Body Meeting at AFMC, Pune, on 21 st November 2005. It was decided that the membership fees should be increased to Rs. 400 effective from 2006. It was also decided that for those members who had paid in advance fees for 2006 and subsequent years the balance amount be collected from them so as to meet the shortfall due to the increase International Membership fees. This was approved by the General Body. Dr. Francisco Couto, Secretary & Treasurer, informed that he had received information from the IAP, in his capacity as Member of the Education Committee of the IAP as well as the Secretary & Treasurer of IAP-ID, about travel bursaries being offered by the Education Committee of the IAP to attend the IAP Congress 2006 at Montreal, Canada.

The Education Committee of the IAP had requested Dr. Couto to forward, by early September 2005, the name of a young pathologist who would be the official candidate from the Indian Division to be considered for the travel bursary while final selection was being made from the candidates received from the various Division of the IAP. Dr. Couto informed the members as regards the eligibility criteria spelt out by the IAP. It was decided that applications would be invited from young pathologists who were upto 40 years of age, were members of the IAP-ID with no pending dues and should be presenting a paper / poster at the IAP Congress 2006 at Montreal. It was decided that all applications had to be submitted to the Secretary & Treasurer IAP-ID along with relevant biodata, proof of age, an undertaking that a poster / paper was being presented and preferably an abstract of the said paper / poster. It was decided that there would be a Committee consisting of three members to go through the applications and select the individual whose name was to be forwarded as the official candidate of the Indian Division. It was further decided that the names of the Committee members would be kept confidential and the decision of this Committee would be final. It was also decided that the selected candidate may be informed of this once all the relevant formalities were over. It was clarified that mere forwarding of the name to the Education Committee of the IAP did not mean that automatically the travel bursary would be awarded to that individual but final selection would be made by the Education Committee of the IAP. After following due process the name of Dr. Sonu Nigam, New Delhi, was forwarded to the Education Committee of the IAP for their consideration for the travel bursary. The General Body approved of this. Dr. Francisco Couto, Secretary & Treasurer, informed that as per the discussions held at the General Body Meeting of the IAP-ID at AFMC, Pune, on 21st November 2004, it had been decided that the proposal that the Meeting of the Asia & Pacific Divisions of the IAP was acceptable. Accordingly it was decided by the Council that it should be conveyed to Dr. H. K. Ng, Vice President (Asia) IAP who was in charge of this activity that India was willing to host the Meeting of the Asia & Pacific Divisions of the IAP in 2009 at Kochi to be organized by Surgeon Rear Admiral P. Sivadas, subject to their approval of the same. The General Body of the IAP-ID also approved the same. Dr. Kusum Joshi suggested that in order to help disseminate knowledge making use of the expertise available to the IAP-ID meetings may be held in various parts of the country by offering the faculty of various IAP-ID programmes. It was agreed by the General Body that only faculty may be offered to those wanting to organize such regional meetings with no financial burden on the IAP-ID and the organizers of these meeting would have to raise their own finances for this purpose.

Dr. Andrew Folpe delivering his lecture

Dr. Francisco Couto, Secretary & Treasurer, on behalf of the IAP-ID, thanked Dr. Andrew Folpe, Dr. K. S. Ratnakar and his team and Dr. Rama Gopalan and her panelists for their contribution to the success of the scientific programme. The Secretary & Treasurer Dr. Couto expressed gratitude and thanks to Dr. S. Datta Gupta, Secretary IAPM, for so graciously consenting to having the Annual Meeting of the IAP-ID in conjunction with the IAPM Conference. On Behalf of the IAP-ID, Dr. Couto expressed deep appreciation and thanks to Dr. Gopal P. Bhagwat, Organizing Secretary, for hosting the Meeting and for the excellent arrangements. The Meeting was then concluded and declared closed by the President.

IAP - ID 8th ANNUAL CME 2005
Bangalore

The IAP-ID 8 th Annual CME 2005 was held on the 12 th & 13 th August 2005 at the St. John's Medical College, Bangalore, and was very ably organized by Dr. Usha Kini, the Organizing Secretary. The theme of the CME was "Current perspectives on Tumour & Tumour like lesions of the Bone". The meeting was extremely well attended by over 300 delegates from all over India and abroad. The CME was inaugurated by Dr. A. V. Ramaprasad, one of the senior most Pathologists from Bangalore and eminent personality. The CME boasted of an eminent faculty of world renown like Dr. Krishnan Unni, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, USA, and Dr. Franco Bertoni, Rizzoli, Italy besides eminent Indian Pathologists, Orthopedic Surgeons, Radiologists, Oncologists, etc, like Dr. N. A. Jambhkar, Dr. Mayil Vahanan Natrajan, Dr. C. V. Raghuveer, Dr. C. Sundaram, Dr. Arjun Kalyanpur, Dr. Shekar Patil, Dr. Kallur, Dr. N. Jayaram, Dr. R. G. W. Pinto, Dr. Rekha Kumar, Dr. Noel Walter, Dr. Usha Kini, Dr. Majorie Correa, Dr. Anuradha Anathamurthy, and Dr. Tanya Machado. The topic was extensively and comprehensively covered by the distinguished faculty and was very interesting because of the interaction between Pathologists and Clinicians.

The CME consisted of symposia, slide seminars, a panel discussion, didactic lectures and problematic case studies. The topics included an intergrated apporoach to bone lesions, interpretation of bone biopsies, Osteosarcomas and problems in its diagnosis, grey zones in chondrosarcomas, role of cytology in bone lesions, round cell tumours, cystic bone lesions, role of chemotherapy and nuclear medicine in bone lesions and psychosocial aspects of life after amputation. The sessions were chaired by Rev Dr. Thomas Kalam, Director, St. John's National Academy of Medical Sciences; Dr. John Thomas, Emeritus Professor of Pathology, St. John's Medical College; Dr. S. G. Deodhare; Dr. S. K. Shankar; Dr. Rajagopalan; and, Dr. Francisco Couto, Secretary & Treasurer, IAP-ID. A proceedings booklet and CD was also given to the delegates. The delegates found the CME extremely useful. The CME was extremely well organized and a grand success. The IAP-ID was represented by the Secretary & Treasurer Dr. Francisco Couto who, on behalf of the IAP-ID, thanked Dr. Usha Kini and her team for organizing the excellent CME.

The Faculty and other dignitaries at the CME