Dear Colleagues

This is my second year & last year as the President of ACRSI & I am glad to inform you that ACRSI is even more vibrant now. The world at large has taken notice of ACRSI & I have received emails from many colorectal societies across the world either enquiring about our Association or asking about the state of colorectal surgery in India. I have attended quite a few International colorectal meeting in the last couple of years & I can proudly state that India is definitely one of the leading countries as far as colorectal surgery is concerned – both in terms of surgical skill & infrastructure.

This year we have started 2 new International traveling fellowship funded by Zydus Alidac. This has replaced the Ethicon Endosurgery traveling fellowship. Two members of ACRSI went abroad on these fellowships for 4 weeks training in colorectal surgery last year, & two more have gone this year. This is a great opportunity for young surgeons to train abroad in reputed centers. In fact many reputed Centers in Colorectal surgery have offered to train young surgeons from India in colorectal surgery – the latest being a fully funded (US$35000) one year travelling fellowship in colorectal surgery to Los Angeles, USA.

In the last couple of years we have conducted post graduate updates in various parts of the country – Mumbai, Hyderabad, Mangalore, Srinagar; besides conducting the basic & advance instructional courses. There a few more post graduate updates planned this year – Cochin, Kolkatta & few other centers. The post graduate update consists of a half day hands on workshop on sutured & stapled anastomosis & a one day lecture series on the important topics in coloproctology conducted by the National Faculty. If anyone is interested in hosting such an update, they can write to the honorary secretary or to me about it.

I am happy to announce that Dr. Parul Shukla & his team at Tata Memorial Hospital have done a wonderful job in bringing out an international quality journal – both in terms of quality of articles & the look of the journal. They have also regularized 4 issues in the year & it is now a quarterly issue. I have received may praises for the journal from India & abroad & I hope Dr Shukla can carry forward the good work & get it indexed soon.

Last year we had a very successful National Conference conducted by Dr. Sanjiv Haribhakti & Dr. Ajay Munshi – it set a new standard as far as the scientific content was concerned. The scientific content attracted a much larger crowd than what we expected & my apologies to those members who could not get a place to sit. This year Dr. Niranjan Agarwal & his team at Bombay Hospital hope to better the last Conference. Besides an excellent scientific content, they have arranged for low cost stay in a venue near the Conference especially to enable post graduates & young surgeons to stay in the ever expensive Mumbai. This year we have a record number of invited foreign faculty & for the first time we have a common session for Gynecologists & Colorectal surgeons. We have also announced prizes for the best paper.

ACRSI got the best section award from ASI last year - the award is truly the efforts of Dr. Mayilvaganan, Dr. Chivate, Dr. Nariani, Dr. Shukla, Dr. Suradkar, Dr Agarwal & the whole lot of young fellows of ACRSI who have worked hard to propel ACRSI to this height. I am grateful to them & hope that they continue with the same enthusiasm & vigor to repeat this feat. I must not forget to mention the constant guidance & help that I have received from Dr. H.G.Doctor, Dr. P.N.Joshi, Dr. P.Sivalingam & Dr. Ashok Ladha to successfully steer this Association. Other Sections of ASI have now started following the example of ACRSI & have started Instructional courses & fellowship examinations – this can only produce better surgeons & improve the healthcare in our country.

We have initiated the formation of the Indian guidelines for the management of common colorectal diseases. We hope to have them ready by the National Conference this year. I am sure it will be helpful to you in managing your patients. Zydus Alidac has been very helpful in supporting this venture.

We have updated the website (www.acrsi.org) & I request you to visit it- all information about various activities of ACRSI is there. I invite you to actively work with ACRSI to enrich both you & the Association. You can contact me or the Hon. Secretary for any query or suggestions that you may have. I wish you all the best for remaining year.

Parvez Sheikh