Dear ISA Colleagues,
Warm greetings to you from ISA National Headquarters!

I took over as the Honorary Secretary of this esteemed organisation in November 2022 with vivid dreams and a strategic vision. My dreams did not crash even though I fell sick and had to undergo a major surgery almost as soon as I took charge. Infact, during my illness, my passion for ISA grew stronger and I dreamt more than ever about the goals and the tremendous amount of work that has to be done for the ISA. The ISA is a prestigious organisation and it represents the Indian anaesthesiologist on the global front. I have always believed that the Indian anaesthesiologist is a highly competent, confident and courageous physician. He/ she is used to working in diverse environments including diversity in the type of hospital, the level and type of equipment available, the geographical area, the diverse language, cultural, social and educational levels of the patient. Yet, all of us remain strongly united in this diverse atmosphere. I am proud to say that it is the multiple strings of the ISA that keep us united, protected and empowered, and that portray us to the rest of the world. We have to work hard to make this organisation stronger by the day and to strengthen its educational, scientific and academic values. This can be done by working hard in the right direction. The private practitioners are busy in their daily clinical work and they actually form the backbone of the ISA. They need to be brought in one way or the other into the mainstream of ISA activities for which efforts have already begun. The recently started Clinical Practice Oriented (CLI P) and Clinical Reasoning and Problem Solving (CRISP) webinar series are an important step with this motive. These webinars aim to bring together the practising anaesthesiologists of our nation on a common academic platform wherein they can share their clinical knowledge, the problems faced by them and their experiences to make anaesthesia practice safer in our country. The postgraduate (PG) students are ‘the little consultants’ in the making and they have to be made to get involved in ISA activities right from the start of their postgraduation, similar to a child who takes up practical work in the house at an early age to become a responsible adult in later life. A uniform PG curriculum needs to be designed for them. The ISA national PG online classes are educating these young to be anaesthesiologists and this education will certainly produce a more scientific and clinically competent ISA community in the days to come. Soon we will be starting the online UG (MBBS) classes so as to popularize our specialty among MBBS students and also to make a uniform UG Curriculum of Anaesthesiology across the nation. These efforts will be a stepping stone towards recognition of Anaesthesiology as an individual subject of UG Curriculum.

Continuing medical education programmes and conferences are traditionally organised by the ISA National and its state and city branches. Nevertheless, we need to improve the academic standards of these events and give equal opportunities to all to participate in them. Well-planned scientific programmes with novel topics in tune with the developments in our field are the need of the day. It is time to showcase to the world the integrity and dedicated work of the Indian researchers and for this, well-designed studies with robust methodology, novel hypotheses and sincere collection of data are necessary. Well-framed guidelines on important clinical topics are badly needed. Nevertheless, the ISA is strongly committed to encouraging all such academic, research and educational activities.

The time is short and the goals are many. However, the vision is clear. I am sure that these goals and vision, along with the teamwork and dedication of all the ISA members can take the ISA to greater heights.

Long live ISA!

Dr Sukhminder Jit Singh Bajwa
Professor & Head, Anaesthesiology & Intensive Care,
GSMCH, Rajpura, Patiala, Punjab.
Honorary Secretary,
ISA National