Dr. Amal Chandra Barua
Formerly Professor & Head, Department of Pediatrics,
Gauhati Medical College and Hospital, Guwahati
The Assam State Branch of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics has been
formed by fluke of circumstances.
Preamble:
After amalgamation of Indian Pediatric Society, formed by Dr. K.C.
Chaudhuri of Kolkata in 1948 and Association of Pediatrics of India,
formed by Dr. G. Coelho of Mumbai in 1950, Indian Academy of Pediatrics
was established in 1963 and Dr. L.S.N. Prasad of Patna was its first
elected president and the 1st Annual National Conference of IAP
was held at Pune in 1964 under his presidentship.
Though after obtaining DCH (C.U.) I was an ordinary member of Indian
Pediatric Society since 1958, I was not a pioneer member of IAP
due to certain personal circumstances like preparation for my M.D.
(Medicine) and subsequent study and training abroad under W,H.O.
fellowship. However, I became an ordinary member of IAP since 1967
and started attending annual IAP conferences held at different cities
in India. By then I was aware of the constitutional provision of
the minimum fifteen Ordinary/Life/Fellow members required to form
a state branch. There was, however, no bar for members from another
state to join a state branch as its member.
I was promoted as Professor of Pediatrics and transferred to Gauhati
Medical College and Hospital, Guwahati in January 1970.
XV International Congress of Pediatrics was held at New Delhi from
23rd to 29thOctober 1977 and Dr. N.S. Tibrewalla was elected as
President of the Congress of Pediatrics for the same event. I was
well acquainted with him since 1972 when he presided over the National
Conference of IAP held at Agra. At the end of the concluding session
of the International Congress on 29/10/1977 he met me and informed
that he would be coming to Guwahati for a few days to participate
in All India Bridge (Cards) Competition at Maligaon, Guwahati.
Within a fortnight of my return from New Delhi, a cheque for Rupees
Fifty arrived as a central IAP contribution for the Assam State
Branch! In those days it was customary to get some contribution
from Central IAP for different state branches depending on their
membership strength. It was a great surprise to me as not only was
there no Assam State Branch, we did not even have more than nine
or ten Ordinary/Life/Fellow members as well. Nevertheless we did
not want to miss this opportunity and I immediately contacted Dr.
Gokul Bora, my student and close friend who was by then a practicing
pediatrician in Guwahati. We both went to the Central Bank of India
at PanBazar, opened a savings account in the name of IAP Assam State
Branch and deposited the cheque therein.
Formation of Assam State Branch:
We appealed to Ordinary/Life members of IAP from the sister states
of Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Arunachal
Pradesh to join our state branch till such time as they formed their
own separate state branches. I contacted Dr. N.S. Tibrewalla who
was luckily available at Guwahati. At a small gathering at Hotel
Belle Vue, in presence of Dr. Gokul Bora, Dr. Harish Ch. Sanna,
myself, Sri Naren Deka, Sub Editor of the Assam Tribune and a few
others, Dr. N.S. Tibrewalla formally declared the Assam Chapter
open. And thus in 1977 the Assam State Branch of IAP was born!
After preliminary preparation we organised the 1st Annual State
Conference on 10/03/1979 at Guwahati. Dr S. Barua being the first
Professor of Pediatrics in Assam was selected as the 1st State President.
Besides delegates from various parts of Assam, pediatricians from
Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura, and Arunachal Pradesh also
took part. Some of the distinguished invited guests were Dr. LSN
Prasad from Patna, Dr. Sisir K Bose, Dr. Rafique Ahmed and Dr. Tirthankar
Dutta, our central executive member from Eastern region. Goodwill
messages were received from President and Vice President of India,
Governors and Chief Ministers of Assam and other sister states,
President of IAP and other dignitaries.
In the general body meeting it was decided to rename the branch
as North East Regional Branch till the other states formed their
own branches. Though central IAP does not encourage zonal or regional
chapters, it made an exception for North West and North East regional
branches on our request. The first executive body comprised of the
following members:
(1) President IAP, 2018: Dr. Santosh Soans
(2) President : Dr. Pranabjit Biswanath
(3) President (Elect.): Dr. Sabina Ahmed
(4) Imm. Past President : Dr. Pranab Sharma
(5) Vice President : Dr. Rupam Das
(6) Hony.Secretary IAP, 2018: Dr. Ramesh Kumar
(7) Hony.Secretary: Dr.Pinaki Chakraborty
(8) Treasurer: Dr. S.K Debnath
(9) Jt. Secretary: Dr. Dhrubajyoti Choudhury
(10) Ex- Officio: Dr. Devajit Sarma
Executive Body Members:
(1) Dr.Kutubur Rahman, Barpeta
(2) Dr. Itesh Bordoloi, Bongaigaon
(3) Dr.S.K Roy, Barak Valley
(4) Dr. Taniya, Dibrugarh
(5) Dr. Raj Kumar Paul, Guwahati
(6) Dr. Rajiv Phukan, Golaghat
(7) Dr. Pankaj Paying, Jorhat
(8) Dr. Rajib Dutta, Lakhimpur
(9) Dr. Rupjyoti Patowary, Nalbari
(10) Dr. Dibon Bora, Nagaon
(11) Dr. Sukalyan Das, Sibsagar
(12) Dr. R.K Mahanta, Tezpur
(13) Dr. Rupam Pal, Tinsukia
The general body decided to extend the term of the office bearers
and some executive members by another one year. Thereafter because
of the Assam agitation, there was a full in our branch activities
and we had the 1st Annual Conference of the NER Branch at Guwahati
on 08/04/1984 with a pre-conference workshop on Neonatology on 07/04/1984.
I had the opportunity to attend the first orientation course in
Neonatology held at Safdarjang Hospital, New Delhi, (February 17-28,
1969) under the auspices of Govt. of India/WHO/UNICEF. It was conducted
by WHO consultant, Beryl Corner and dealt with mainly primary and
a little bit of secondary neonatal care like incubator etc. Dr.
S.K. Bhargava, Assistant Professor of Neonatology at Safdarjang
Hospital was my co-participant and we became very good friends and
later I requested him to come to Guwahati to conduct the day-long
workshop alone as there was a dearth of suitable persons to help
him out in those days. On 08/04/1984 Dr. T. Jacob John from Vellore
gave a talk on "Recent Trends in Immunisation in children".
General body was held at different places as featured in the table
enclosed (in the initial stages for first few conferences we had
to go there more than once to help them with organizational aspects.
By 2008 we have achieved a lot. Our membership strength is now more
than three hundred. Even at Guwahaii we have more than a hundred
pediatricians. Various city district and one regional (Barak valley)
branches are flourishing and working effectively. Subsequently pediatricians
like Dr. R.K. Kayal, Dr. J.N. Sharma, Dr. B Kalita, Dr. G. Bora,
Dr. S.C. Jain, Dr. C.S. Das, Dr. A.L. Saha, Dr. N.C. Jain, Dr. (Mrs.)
Arati Deka, Dr. Abhinandan Das, Dr. Garima Saikia, Dr. Nivedita
Goswami and many others got together and formed the Assam State
Branch of the National Neonatology Forum and started training pediatricians
and other medical personnel at medical college hospitals to district
hospitals and even primary health centres in neonatal care. XXI
Annual Conference of NNF was held at Guwahati from 14/02/2001 to
16/02/2001. The Assam State Branch of IAP has received the best
state branch as well as awards for carrying out various programmes
related to breast feeding, ORT, adolescent care, etc., at the national
level on many occasions.
In the year 2002 under presidentship of Dr NC Hazarika
and Dr Shabina Ahmed as Secretary and Nirmal Jain as treasurer the
activities of Assam state branch received recognition at the national
level and gained entry into the national arena.and an important
benchmark was formed .
However we cannot afford to be complacent and we need to work harder
to offer the best care to our needy child population. Though many
cities of India could host the IAP national conferences on more
than one occasion, we could not as yet host a single national conference
our state. Moreover we now have to look after the adolescents with
their various physical, psychological, social and other problems.
There is no time for relaxation but to work harder to reach new
goals.
I like to conclude by quoting: "A child's brain is a fire
to be ignited, not a pot to be filled"- John Locke.
| Sl no. |
President |
Secretary |
Annual Conference |
|
1
|
Dr. S. Barua |
Dr. A. C. Barua |
1st Annual Conference of Assam State Branch at Guwahati on
10/03/1979 |
|
2
|
Dr. S. Barua |
Dr. A. C. Barua |
1st Conference of IAP NER branch at Guwahati on 08/04/1984 |
|
3
|
Dr. A.C. Barua |
Dr. J.N. Sharrna |
2nd Conference of NER Branch at Guwahati on 25/08/1985 |
|
4
|
Dr. A. C. Barua |
Dr. R.K. Kayal |
3rd NER IAP Conference at Agartala in 25/10/1986 |
|
5
|
Dr. (Mrs.) L.I. Devi |
(could not be traced) |
4th NER IAP Conference at Silchar in 1987 |
|
6
|
Dr. J.N. Bhuyan |
Dr. R.K. Sarma |
5th NER IAP Conference at Dibrugarh on 13/02/1989 |
|
7
|
Dr. D.N. Sarma |
Dr. P. Viswanath |
6th NER IAP Conference at Shillong on 28/10/1990 |
|
8
|
Dr. H.C. Sarma |
Dr. D.K. Patgiri |
7th NER IAP Conference at Tezpur in 1991 |
|
9
|
Dr. Gokul Bora |
Dr. Abhinandan Das |
8th + 1 = 9th Assam State Conference at Guwahati on 13/02/1993. |
|
After 1992 Manipur and Tripura could form
their own State Branches and we switched back to Assam State
Branch with intimation to Central IAP, the number of conferences
was calculated as State Branch and NER Branch together. Subsequently
Nagaland and Meghalaya also formed their separate state branches.
|
|
10
|
Dr. M. K. Barooah |
Dr. (Mrs.) Arati Deka |
10th Assam State Conference at Dibrugarh on 07/04/1994 |
|
11
|
Dr. M.C. Dutta |
Dr. (Mrs.) P. Bora (Lahkar) |
11th Assam State Conference at Jorhat in March 1995 |
|
12
|
Dr. B. Kalita |
Dr. (Mrs.) Kalpana Patangia Deka |
12th Assam State along with 3rd East Zone IAP conference at
Guwahati on Feb. 1997 |
|
13
|
Dr. R.K. Sarma |
Dr. Narayan Sarma |
Instead of Annual Conference, only 13th general body meeting
and handing over charge to the new office bearers |
|
14
|
Dr. M.K. Chakravarty |
Dr. P. Biswanath |
14th Assam State Conference at Silchar in 1998 |
|
15
|
Dr. S.M. Das |
Dr. Sukalyan Das |
15th Assam State Conference at Sibasagar in 2001 |
|
16
|
Dr. N.C. Hazarika |
Dr. (Mrs.) Shabina Ahmed |
16th Assam State Conference at North Lakhimpur on 21/02/2002 |
|
17
|
Dr. D. K. Patgiri |
Dr. N.K. Jain |
17th Assam State Conference at Tinsukia on 01/02/2003 |
|
18
|
Dr. C.S. Das |
Dr. (Mrs.) Nivedita Goswami |
18th Assam State Conference at Hojai on 20/12/2003 for half
a day only due to Bandh called by ULFA |
|
19
|
Dr. R.K. Kayal |
Dr. (Mrs.) Garima Saikia |
19th Assam State Conference at Tezpur on 18/01/2004 |
|
20
|
Dr. J.N. Sharma |
Dr. Sanjib Chakravarty |
20th Assam state along with 12th East Zone IAP conference
at Guwahati on 15/11/2005 |
|
21
|
Dr. J.N. Khargharia |
Dr. (Mrs.) Monali M. Das |
21st Assam State Conference at Kaziranga organised by Golaghat
Branch on 23/12/2006 |
|
22
|
Dr. Subhash Ch. Jain |
Dr. Sushil K. Jain |
22nd Assam State Conference at Silchar in 2007 |
|
23
|
Dr. C.S. Das |
Dr. Ajoy Sarma |
23rd Assam State Conference at Dibrugarh on 18/10/2008 |
|
24
|
Dr Shyama Saikia |
Dr Manoranjan Sharmah |
24th Assam State Conference at Bongaigaon on 18/12/2009 |
|
25
|
Dr Purnima Borah |
Dr Lokajeet Baro |
25th Assam State Conference at Nalbari on 24-25/10/2010 |
|
26
|
Dr Helina Rahman |
Dr Manab Narayan Baruah |
26th Assam State Conference at Nagaon 22-23/10/2011 |
