The General Body Meeting of the Indian Society for Surgery of Hand was held at Hotel Valley View, Manipal on 26th November 2011.

President Dr. S. Raja Sabapathy chaired the meeting.  He was accompanied by Secretary

Dr. Santhosh Rath, Vice-President Dr. V.S. Patil and Managing Trustee Prof. G. Balakrishnan on the dais.

Dr. Raja Sabapathy welcomed the members and in his introductory speech explained about the forthcoming international congress in March 2013 and the steps that are taken by the association to further the cause of Hand Surgery in India.  Dr. Raja Sabapathy also spoke about the immense contribution of Dr. A.G. Selvapandian, and Dr. Ernest Fritchie who passed away last year.  The House rose in silence for a minute as a mark of respect for the departed souls.  He then handed over the proceedings to the secretary Dr. Santhosh Rath and following were the discussions:

1. Dr. Santhosh Rath  first detailed the decisions taken in the Executive council meeting on 24th Nov, 2011 and presented the account s for the year 2010 which was passed by the house.

2. The secretary informed the house of the expected contribution of Rs.55,000/- from Dr. Rajendra Nehete as surplus from Nashik ISSH meeting in 2010. The amount has not been received yet and once it is received will be handed over to the trustee

Prof.G. Balakrishnan

3. Inland Travelling Fellowship:   From 1998 we have been having the ISSH- Ethicon Travelling Fellowship which got discontinued in the year 2008.  Presently the society itself wanted to re-start the fellowship and it will be termed as ISSH Inland Travelling Fellowship.  The fellowship would be worth Rs.20,000/- and will be available for a member to visit a centre of excellence in the country for a period of 3 weeks. Members interested are invited to send in the application to the secretary.

4. Dr. Raja Sabapathy  informed the house the collection of Rs.59,000/- as the sale proceeds of Dr. Acland Books in the past one year.  This amount would be added to the Acland Travelling Fellowship Fund.

5. Trustees Report

Prof. G. Balakrishnan presented the trustee report and he explained the reason for the shortfall that happens towards the commitment in Acland Travelling Fellowship and in the preparations of medallions for the orators of the annual orations.  Permission was given by the General Body to the trustee to utilise the unused funds to make good the shortfalls this year.  The House thanked Prof. G. Balakrishnan for his excellent services to maintain the finances of the society in a healthy state.

6.Elections
Dr. Santhosh Rath  proposed that we elect the secretary one year before he takes office so that the organisation could be aware as to who would be doing the secretary’s job on completion of the tenure of the existing secretary.  This would enable smooth transition in the functioning of the secretary’s office.

7. He would be called as secretary elect.  Dr. Rath also proposed that the outgoing secretary could continue to attend the Executive Council for the next one year.  After a good amount of discussion  the following points were agreed:

a) Secretary will be selected one year before the end of the tenure of the existing secretary.

b) The person elected will take office following year after the election and term of office will be 3 years.  In case, any incumbent secretary wishes to be re-elected for another term, the intention should be conveyed one year before the completion of tenure and provided the House agrees, he could be re-elected.

c)  Name of the secretary elected will also be put in the website to be of information to the members.

d)  Past secretary to be part of the Executive Council for one year   after his terms is over.

8. Central Office for ISSH
Difficulty in maintaining the documents of ISSH and the cumbersome transfer of these documents at the change of secretary and risk of losing the documents during travel was expressed by the secretary and the senior  members.  It was decided to have a central office of ISSH where all the original documents of the society and its proceedings will be maintained.

This will also enable to gather and maintain the documents and memorabilia pertaining to growth of Hand Surgery in India and it can also function as a resource centre of Hand Surgery.

Dr. Raja Sabapathy offered to create and maintain the central office at Ganga Hospital, Coimbatore.  After due deliberations, the House unanimously agreed to the proposal to set up the Central Office of ISSH at Ganga Hospital, Coimbatore.  As per Dr. Chandraprakasam’s suggestion, it was agreed to try this arrangement for 10 years.

 

9. Mid-term  Executive Committee Meeting

It was felt that the executive council members must meet at least once in-between the meetings which coincides with ISSH conference.  The proposal for mid-term executive committee meeting was accepted by all.  It will be held at a location convenient to all EC members.  Re-imbursement of travel expenses was discussed with members and it was agreed that they would be paid an amount equivalent to train fare in Second AC coach.

10. Elections to the Executive Committee
The post of secretary and 2 posts of EC members were noted to be elected.

Secretary:  Dr. Vikas Gupta from New Delhi was the only applicant to the post and he was unanimously elected.  Later it was found that Dr. Vikas Gupta has one more year to complete his executive council post and as per tradition it was felt that secretary must have completed the EC term.  Hence his  election was withdrawn.   Prof. G. Balakrishnan, Managing Trustee suggested that the present secretary Dr. Santhosh Rath could continue to function for one more year and Dr. Vikas Gupta could take over from him at the next ISSH meeting.  This proposal was accepted by everybody. Dr Santhosh Rath, the present secretary will continue for one more year.

11. Executive Committee Member: Dr. Jagannath Kamath was proposed by Dr. Hari Venkatramani and seconded by Dr. Mukund Thatte.

Dr. Ashwath Acharya proposed by Dr. Jagannath Kamath and seconded by Dr. Chandraprakasam.  Since there were only two names for the posts, Dr. Jagannath Kamath and Dr. Ashwath Acharya were elected for post of Executive Council for  a 3 year term, till the  2014 ISSH conference.

12. Dr. Acland & S&T International Travelling Fellowship – 2011-2012
The only applicant for this fellowship was Dr. Anil K Bhat of Manipal.  The secretary informed that his application was in order.  Dr. Acland & S&T International Fellowship was awarded to Dr. Anil K Bhat for the year 2011 – 2012.  Dr. Anil K. Bhat was requested to send in his travel plans to the secretary.

13. Preparation of ‘Blue Book’
The standard procedures to be followed in conduction of meetings.

The President and the secretary explained to the members the need for adhering to certain directives and procedures in conducting the national conferences and the subsequent submission of accounts so that it would benefit both the delegates and the society.  The President Dr. Raja Sabapathy was requested to formulate these set of guidelines for a  “Blue Book” that explains the protocols and standards to be maintained in conducting ISSH conferences.  This will be prepared by Dr. Raja Sabapathy and circulated by email to the EC members for their opinion and later adopted by the General Body.

 
14. Utilisation of Corpuses
Dr. G. Balakrishnan had informed that the corpus was nearing the proposed 10 lakhs and a discussion was held as to how to utilise the interest from the corpus fund.   One of the suggestion noted was towards  conducting the Mid-term Executive Committee Meetings and to add it to the funds that need supplementation.

15.  IFFSH-IFSHT Congress – 2013 

Dr. Raja Sabapathy discussed in detail the progress made and about the change in venue from Hotel Ashoka to the Expo Centre for the congress.  He also explained that we would be meeting all the important people at Coimbatore on December 18th 2011.

16.  Report of Dr Bharath Kadidi 

Dr. Bharath Kadadi was the recipient  of the Dr Acland – S & T international travelling Fellowship for the year 2010.  He gave a good power point presentation on his experience in visiting the Pulvertaft Hand Centre at Derby and  other centres in UK.  The utilization report submitted by him was well appreciated. 
 

Since there was no other matter, the President adjourned the meeting expressing appreciation to Dr. Bhaskaranand Kumar, Dr. Anil K Bhat and their team for conducting a great conference at Manipal.