• The dates 2 – 4 November 2007 were accepted
• The venue PGIMER, Chandigarh was also accepted
• The (provisional) registration fees as under was also accepted:

• The new web site was appreciated.
• The minutes of the meeting held in Goa was discussed. The following points were to be incorporated:
• The tenure of the President and Vice President to be two years and that of the other office bearers to be three years
• A person should have served for at one term least on the Executive Committee and attended at least three meetings in the five years preceding the election to contest for the post of Vice President
• Dr S. Deopujari and Chidambaram to set the ball in motion for organising the ISPN meeting in 2011
• Dr Chidambaram to send a reminder to Drs Chhabra and Deshpande about the non receipt of the sum due to the society and audited statement of accounts.
• The possibility of having an international CME was also mooted and Drs Pathak and Bhagwati were to be contacted in this regard.

• The tenure of the officers of the society to be reduced to two years per term from the present duration of three years. This is to allow more participation and interaction from the members. This will come into effect after the next election.
• Any member who wishes to contest for the post of Vice President must have served the society in some capacity and must have attended at least four of the five meetings preceding the election. This is to prevent “lateral or back door entry” to the post of Vice President.
• The membership categories to be reduced to only two from the existing format. The two categories will be FULL LIFE (for those with a postgraduate degree in Neurosurgery) and ASSOCIATE LIFE (for doctors in allied specialties, neurologists and those in training to be neurosurgeons). The fees for the former and latter will be Rs 5000/- (Five thousand) and 3500/- (Three thousand five hundred) respectively. Those opting for full Life membership can pay in three installments of Rs 2000/- (Two thousand) each and the latter category can pay in three installments of Rs 1500/- (One thousand five hundred). Those who become eligible for Full Life membership can pay the difference between the two categories (i.e. Rs 1500/-) in one installment and become Full Life members. The existing Life members will be considered Full Life members. This is to make the membership process simpler and to improve the finances of the society in the long run. Further by adopting this scheme members need not remember (or be reminded) to pay the annual subscription.
• The editor of the society’s journal to be inducted as a member of the Executive Committee member. The Webmaster also to be inducted as a member of the Executive Committee. These two posts will be filled by appointment by the Executive Committee.
• The money to be paid to the society by the organising committee of the annual conference to be enhanced to Rs 50,000/- (Fifty thousand) for the existing amount of Rs 25,000/-(Twenty five thousand). Further the taxes as applicable ( and if any) on the income generated by the conference has to be paid by the organisers before the money is given to the society. All TDS as applicable has to paid by the organising committee. The Treasurer and society’s auditors will render all assistance in this matter to the organisers of the meeting. Also the audited statement of accounts of the annual meeting has to be submitted to the Treasurer. These processes (i.e. contribution to the society and the audited statement of accounts) will have to be completed before the following years meeting. These will help to improve the finances of the society.
• All future ISPN CMEs will have to be organised with the help of Secretary who will be the coordinator of the CME.

The organisers of this years meeting and last years meeting were thanked for the excellent arrangements, wonderful scientific contents and warm hospitality. These were placed on record. As there was no other matter the meeting ended after thanks to the Chair and members present.

MINUTES OF THE GENERAL BODY MEETING OF THE

INDIAN SOCIETY FOR PAEDIATRIC NEUROSURGERY SOCIETY

The meeting was held on 19th September 2006 at the National Institute of Oceanography, Goa at 12 30 P M

The following were present on the dais to conduct the meeting

Dr Deopujari

Dr Chidambaram

Dr Venkataramana

The meeting was chaired by Dr Deopujari, Vice President because regrets were received from Dr Chhabra the President.

The meeting was called to order by the Chairman.

The minutes of the last years meeting was discussed and accepted (Proposed by

Dr Shankala, Seconded by Dr Venkataramana).

A few moments silence was observed as a mark of respect to Dr V. Balasubramaniam, Dr M.Natarajan and Dr A.D. Seghal, (senior members of the profession and teachers) who had passed away.

SECRETARY’S REPORT:

A very good meeting was held last year and this was well received. The Society placed on recorded its appreciation and thanks to Drs V P Singh, Banerjee and the Organising Committee for conducting the meeting in New Delhi. The academic session as well as the fellowship was of outstanding quality.

Three issues of the journal of the society have been published. The journal has proved to be very useful. The untiring efforts of the editor Dr Shankala was appreciated and placed on record.

The current cycle of ISPN  CME has come to an end this year. Hence there will be no ISPN CME next year.

TREASURER’S REPORT :

Indian Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery has   reasonably stable financial position. We had an opening balance of Rs.5,49,423.26 in April 2005.  The expenses incurred during the year was Rs.21,447.00 The only income is from the new life memberships. We had received a significant contribution from Dr.Sridhar and Dr.VP Singh in addition to the repayment of seed money from the society.  We have a closing balance of Rs.6,62,962.06 this year. 

The audited statement of account was presented in General Body meeting at Goa and it was duly proposed and seconded.  This year we have major contribution of Rs.6lakhs from Dr.Sridhar to create fellowship in honor of Prof.B.Ramamurthi. We are also incurring huge expenses in bringing out society journal. The executive committee has decided to contribute to the journal expenses from now on.

This year the executive committee has approved 14 new life members, two associate members and one international member.

ELECTION:

The term of the current office bearers came to a close this year so elections were announced.

For the following posts nominations were received from only one person:

Secretary Dr Chidambaram (Chennai)

Treasurer Dr Venkataramana (Bangalore)

Executive Committee Member ( two members) Drs Uday Andar (Mumbai) and Dr Sandip Chaterjee (Kolkatta). So these candidates were declared “elected unopposed”.

For the post of Vice President nominations were received from Dr Ajay Sharma and

Dr Ashok Mahapatra (both from New Delhi). The former received 20 votes while the latter received 28 votes. Hence Dr Mahapatra was declared elected for the post of Vice President.

ISPN MEETING:

On behalf of the Society a bid was made to host the Annual Meeting of The International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery in 2011 at Goa. This has been accepted and approved by the ISPN. An ad hoc  committee has been constituted by the Executive Committee for this, the members will be Dr Chandrasekhar Deopujari - Chairman, Dr Chidambaram Balasubramaniam -  Secretary and Dr N K Venkataramana – Treasurer.

DR SRIDHAR’S OFFER:

Dr Sridhar has transferred the funds left over from the Chennai meting to our society with a request that a the money be used for “Fellowship Activities” in honour of Late Dr B Ramamurthi. This has been approved by the Executive Committee.

FUTURE MEETINGS:

Bids have been received for conducting the meeting in 2007 and 2008. The former from Dr A Pathak, Chandigarh and the latter from Dr Murali, Coimbatore. These were approved. The 2007 meeting will be held at the end of September.

NEW MEMBERS:

The following were elected to the Society:

LIFE MEMBERSHIP

Dr.Deepak Kumar Gupta

Dr.S.Dwarakanath

Dr.B.S.Sharma

Dr.Mathew

Dr.Vijay seth

Dr.K.Anil

Dr.Sandeep chopra

Dr.Kaushik Sil

Dr.Suhas

Dr.B.Dibbala Rao

Dr.A.S.Netalkar

Dr.Rojin Abraham

Dr.Roy Thomas D 

Associate Life Membership

Dr.Vani Santosh

Dr.Sona Pungorkar

International Membership

Dr.Jogi Pattisapu

MEMBERSHIP ROSTER:

The Secretary remarked that in spite of reminders the members have not been informing him of the change in their addresses and hence the roster is incomplete. He informed that in the website of the society a page will be allotted for the members to up date the details.

JOURNAL EDITOR’S REPORT

The Journal of Pediatric Neurosciences, an official publication of the Indian Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery, finally became a reality last year. The inaugural issue was released by Prof. Ventuteyra during the International CME & the annual meeting of the Ind.SPN at New Delhi. The response was overwhelming. With the next issue in March 2006, we were able to begin a website and online service which included online submission, reviews, revision of articles and readers’ participation. The results were encouraging. Articles for publication in the journal were received in increasing numbers from the pediatric neurosurgeons of India and abroad. This is clearly evident from the last issue in Sept. 2006.

We are now in the process of getting the journal indexed. Which simply means we need to maintain the regularity of the publication and quality of its contents at the highest level. This could only be possible by active contribution from the neurosurgeons of India as a whole and  members of the Indian Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery in particular. There is enormous scientific material available in our country. I appeal - motivate younger colleagues in your department and colleagues from the neurology, pediatrics, neuroradiology, neuropathology etc. at your institution to send more scientific articles for publication in this journal. Together we can make this journal a very successful endeavor.  

OTHER MATTERS:

The following were proposed as amendments to the constitution (these were discussed in brief and the Secretary will be writing to the members and also posting these on the website):

The tenure of the officers of the society to be reduced to two years per term from the present duration of three years. This is to allow more participation and interaction from the members. This will come into effect after the next election.

Any member who wishes to contest for the post of Vice President must have served the society in some capacity and must have attended at least four of the five meetings preceding the election. This is to prevent “lateral or back door entry” to the post of Vice President.

The membership categories to be reduced to only two from the existing format. The two categories will be FULL LIFE (for those with a postgraduate degree in Neurosurgery) and ASSOCIATE LIFE (for doctors in allied specialties, neurologists and those in training to be neurosurgeons). The fees for the former and latter will be Rs 5000/- (Five thousand) and 3500/- (Three thousand five hundred) respectively. Those opting for full Life membership can pay in three installments of Rs 2000/- (Two thousand) each and the latter category can pay in three installments of Rs 1500/- (One thousand five hundred). Those who become eligible for Full Life membership can pay the difference between the two categories (i.e. Rs 1500/-) in one installment and become Full Life members. The existing Life members will be considered Full Life members. This is to make the membership process simpler and to improve the finances of the society in the long run. Further by adopting this scheme members need not remember (or be reminded) to pay the annual subscription.

The Editor of the society’s journal to be inducted as a member of the Executive Committee member. The Webmaster also to be inducted as a member of the Executive Committee. These two posts will be filled by appointment by the Executive Committee.

The money to be paid to the society by the organising committee of the annual conference to be enhanced to Rs 50,000/- (Fifty thousand) for the existing amount of Rs 25,000/-(Twenty five thousand). Further the taxes as applicable ( and if any) on the income generated by the conference has to be paid by the organisers before the money is given to the society. All TDS as applicable has to paid by the organising committee. The Treasurer and society’s auditors will render all assistance in this matter to the organisers of the meeting. Also the audited statement of accounts of the annual meeting has to be submitted to the Treasurer. These processes (i.e. contribution to the society and the audited statement of accounts) will have to be completed before the following years meeting.   These will help to improve the finances of the society. Concern was expressed by some members about the nonreceipt of dues to the society from some of the previous organisers of the meetings. It was remarked that some action has to be taken against the erring organisers. The Executive Committee has promised to look in to it.

All future ISPN CMEs will have to be organised with the help of Secretary who will be the coordinator of the CME.

The organisers of this years meeting and last years meeting were thanked for the excellent arrangements, wonderful scientific contents and warm hospitality. These were placed on record.

As there was no other matter the meeting ended after thanks to the Chair and members present.