"My dear Honorable members of IAGES, Seniors, Trustees and friends." It is a privilege and honour to be chosen to serve as the President of this great association. I feel blessed to be given an opportunity to contribute and build upon the solid foundation laid by my illustrious predecessors. I have taken over as the President at the EC meeting in Mumbai on 27th February, 2016. Dr Abhay Dalvi will be the President for the annual congress at Srinagar in April, 2016. We have chalked out a year full of academic activities. At least 10 FIAGES courses, one FALS course, one midterm conference , at least 6 Endosuturing and knotting courses, 5 single theme workshops in all the 5 zones, and endoscopic courses for Surgeons have been planned for the year. A disaster management committee in all the zones is being set up so that we can be of some help in the event of any calamity befalling our great nation. Data for more than 2000 members have been corrected in run up to the election for 2016-2018.We will be coming out with membership card and a membership directory. I would request all members to recheck their particulars with our secretary Dr Sayandev Dasgupta. We will be having a regular e newsletter called the IAGES Times which will inform the members about regular activities of the associations and also highlight the achievements of our esteemed members. Professor Subhash Khanna and his team have been working tirelessly for it and I congratulate them for bringing out such an excellent e newsletter. I was overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of the new executive committee who in the 1st meeting on 27th February have already given their commitment to carry out the various activities which have been planned. We made a very good beginning with the 1st FIAGES course of this new EC at Cuttack from 4th to 6th March, 2016 under the leadership of Dr Sreejoy Patnaik and Dr C R Das. We were blessed by the presence of our founder President Professor T E Udwadia. Your suggestions and new ideas are desired and welcome. I am only a phone call away. We have to build on the solid foundation laid by our predecessors and take this association to more glorious heights Welcome to a year full of academic activities, togetherness, bonding and friendship
Thanking you Dr Ramesh Agarwalla President 2016-2017