Hyderabad: The 59th Annual
Conference of the Association of Physicians of
India (APICON 2004), which comes to Hyderabad
after a gap of 20 years, began with much
fanfare. As many as 7,000 delegates from all
over India and the adjoining neighbouring
countries are participating in the conference.
The Pre-conference CME program on the
inaugural day of the conference made history
with the live transmission of procedures in
Cardiology, Pulmonology and Gastroenterology
in a programme by Dr. Lekha Pathak, Dean
Indian College of Physicians (ICP), which was
organized for the first time in the 59 years
history of the Indian College of Physicians (ICP)
and Association of Physicians of India (API).
In the present era of advancing information
and technology even in the medical field, it
is practically impossible for any physician to
keep abreast of the latest developments in the
medical field on his own. Hence CME
(Continuing Medical Education) programmes,
which are meant to provide such kind of latest
information, are the most popular event of
such conferences. The present Dean of the ICP,
Dr. Lekha Pathank has been in the chair for
the last two years and has given multiple
programmes all over the country 9 Rural CMEs
finally culminating into the mega event i.e.
the CME (Continuing Medical Education) 2004
Programme, which will be followed by the
APICON 2004 meeting from Monday.
This the first time that the CME programme has
been organized by the Dean, Indian College of
Physicians (ICP) and the first Lady Dean of
the ICP. As an asset to the medical faculty
the CM released the textbook ‘Post Graduate
Medicine’, 2004 edited and compiled by Dr.
Lekha Pathak. The book contains the entire
proceedings of the CME programme and in
addition, contains 30 other articles on the
most important advances in the different
disciplines of medicine. The book provides a
kaleidoscopic view of the current concepts and
practice of medicine and will be useful not
only to the students but also to practitioners
and consultants.
The CME meeting on the first day of the
conference was organized by the Dean Dr. Lekha
Pathak and her team, which comprised of Dr. S.
V. Vaidya, Dr. N. O. Bansal, Dr. J. B.
Phadtare, Dr. Ajay Mahajan all from Grant
Medical College, Mumbai. The main highlights
of this event were a series of lectures
updating the attending physicians who have
come from every nook and corner of the
country. All the lectures were delivered by
the most eminent doctors, not only of national
but international repute, being masters of
their fields.
The two most unique features of the meeting
were a symposium on ‘Emergency Management of
critically ill patients in the first three
hours’, which is very vital in deciding the
prognosis and the outcome of each patient. The
second and the most exciting event of the day
was the Live Workshop conducted with the
support of Dr. P. C. Rath, Director of
Cardiology from the Apollo Hospital, for the
first time in the 59 years history of the ICP
and API. During this live workshop
demonstration of highly advanced procedures
like Gastroscopy, Colonoscopy, Bronchoscopy,
Coronary Angioplasty, Renal Angioplasty, etc.
were made through the satellite link at the
Shilparamam Hall, whilst the procedures were
done at Apollo Hospital by the experts.
Above all, the meeting was inaugurated by none
other than the Chief Minister of AP Shri. N.
Chandrababu Naidu. The distinguished Chief
Guest of the evening Mr. Naidu very
confidently declared that India will soon
become the hub of health care over the next
one decade and he also discussed about the
Vision 2020 policy of the Centre and the AP
state. He also stated that the health sector
would play the most important role at both the
national and international level.
The Association of Physicians of India (API)
is the largest association of Physicians in
India with close to nearly 14,000 members.
This association organizes an annual
conference every year at a different venue
each year. The academic wing of the API is
known as the Indian College of Physicians (ICP),
which organizes many of the academic
programmes. The Hyderabad Chapter of the
Association of Physicians of India is
organising the 59th Annual Conference of
Association of Physicians of India APCON-2004
from January 18 to 21, at Shilpakalavedika,
Madhapur.
-MK
Reachout's News Bureau
Jan'
2004
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