MINUTES OF THE GENERAL BODY MEETING OF THE INDIAN SOCIETY FOR PAEDIATRIC NEUROSURGERY HELD ON 8 NOVEMBER 2008 AT HOTEL THE RESIDENCY, COIMBATORE TAMIL NADU

The meeting was chaired by the President Dr CE Deopujari.
The following were present:
Dr SN Bhagwati
Dr S Kalayanaraman
Dr VK Jain
Dr CE Deopujari
Dr B Chidambaram
Dr S Shankala
Dr Rajkumar
Dr AK Mahapatra
Dr S Chaterjee
Dr K Subramaniam
Dr VG Ramesh
Dr G Samson
Dr K Sil
Dr N Muthukumar
Dr AK Purohit

The meeting was called to order by the Chairman. He welcomed the members.

The minutes of the last meeting EC were presented and were accepted (Proposed by Dr S Chaterjee Seconded by Dr Shnakala). The minutes of the last General body Meeting were presented and were accepted (Proposed by Dr Ramesh Seconded by Dr Muthukumar).

PRESIDENT’S REMARKS & ADDRESS

The President began by appreciating the work done by Dr Murali and his team in hosting a wonderful meeting. The excellent scientific sessions and hospitality were appreciated and on behalf of the members of the society he thanked Dr Murali and his team. The appreciation was placed on record.

The Chairman updated the members about the steps taken to start the fellowship in paediatric neurosurgery. Talks are underway with the National Board and the President of the National Board has been appraised of the need he added. But much more work needs to be done in this matter and he solicited the cooperation of the members.  The database of patients with brain tumours and neural tube defects was still in complete and he urged the members to help in updating the database.

The next annual meeting (in 2009) will be held in Kolkatta and the organising Secretary will be Dr Sandip Chaterjee. The Korean paediatric neurosurgical society has agreed to send a delegation of 20 -25 neurosurgeons. Thus it will be an combined Indo-Korean meeting. Dr Choi’s name was proposed for the The Dr Bhagwati Oration for 2009. He will be a part of the delegation from Korea. This was approved by the floor, and the Organising Secretary of the 2009 meeting.

SECRETARY’S REPORT:

The secretary began by mentioning there has been a steady increase in the number of papers submitted over the years. The standard of submissions were also getting better he added. In keeping with the “unwritten policy” of not rejecting any paper all the submitted papers were accepted even if they were submitted late. The Secretary who is the person responsible for the scientific sessions and the Organising Secretary Dr Murali worked hard to find a slot for all the papers. This was done to encourage more participation particularly the junior colleagues and residents. But it was sad to note, he added, the papers were not only being submitted late some were not in the prescribed format. This would be difficult to accept in future meetings he reiterated. After debating this issue the floor decided the papers submitted late and not conforming to the regulations should not be accepted. This issue elicited a good discussion and the floor felt we have to be strict in the future with respect to acceptance of the papers and the rules should be strictly enforced and all papers have to be submitted on time otherwise putting together the scientific programme will be difficult. Under exceptional circumstances the Scientific Committee chairman may relax the rules noted President

The Secretary added some “non-members” are also submitting papers. The rules are clear in this regard he added. The rule was read out and debated. Dr Mahapatras  proposal that non members can submit provided atleast one of the main authors  (i.e. one of the first 3 authors) is a full members. This ws seconded by Dr Deopujari and accepted by the floor.

The tenure of the President and Vice President came up for discussion next. It was decided earlier that the tenure should be reduced to two years. The rest of the Executive should continue for three years. Dr Bhagwati had proposed the tenure be reduced to two or even one year. The topic was deliberated upon extensively and the members were very forthcoming in their views.

After the discussion the Chairman asked for a show hands to decide. It was unanimously decided that the tenure should be as it is proposed in the amended constitution and no change is warranted now. The number constituting the Executive Committee was brought up next. It was decided by the floor that the number be increased by one or two more. The question of inducting members from allied specialties to the Executive Committee was debated.  Finally by a show of hands it was decided the number shall be increased to four (including Editor and Webmaster) and members from allied specialties need not be inducted into the Executive Committee.

The Secretary brought up the difficulty in updating the members data base. Members have been urged to submit the latest information to the Secretary. Dr Sandip Cahterjee said that will be must fro registration for the next meeting.

Two bids were received for the 2009 meeting. Dr Purohit from Hyderabad and Dr Tarun from Udaipur. The President observed that both the bids were incomplete since the bids had not been submitted in writing to the society.    So the President requested the members to decide. The floor decided in favour of Hyderabad.

To facilitate administration a decision had been taken in the previous meeting to shift the office of the society to Bengaluru. Dr Venkataramana said the hospital where he  is working will give the needed space. This was welcomed but before shifting the office a letter to this effect was in order felt the members. The Secretary was authorized to look into it. Once the office is shifted the amended constitution will be registered ion Bengaluru.

The President remarked the traveling fellowships were underutilised.. Dr Mahapatra’s suggestion that all those who have their papers accepted for the Resident Award Paper session must be given the traveling fellowship. This was accepted by the house. So there will be six traveling fellowships from next year.

TREASURER’S REPORT

Financial  Statement for the year 2007-2008

• The accounts had an opening Balance of  Rs. 2,94,060.42/-
• The income from the membership fee is Rs. 20,150/-
• We had received an interest from Bank is Rs. 9003/-


• There are two fixed deposits :
  1. A/c No. 1345 is Rs. 6,65,000/-
  2. A/c  No. 1052 is Rs. 5 lakhs


• Received an Bank interest for theses fixed deposits is Rs 33,637.50/-
• There is a cash balance of Rs. 2,59,066.02/-
• The total receipts for the year Rs 356,851.02/-
• We have paid Rs. 50,000/- towards the journal.
• The other expenses is Rs. 47,704/-

EDITOR’S REPORT

The Editor appreciated the contributions of the authors of the various papers. He went on to add because the number of original papers is not increasing the journal is not being indexed. He requested more original papers. Dr Mahapatra’s suggestion all award papers must be submitted for publication in the journal was accepted by the majority of the floor. A special issue on Hydrocephalus will be forthcoming in 2009m the editor remarked.

Articles (2006-2008):

Journal's visibility (2008)

1. No. of visitors from Jul'07 to Jun'08 : 31236
2. No. of page downloads during this period : 52572
3. No. of cities from where visitors came : 1114
4. City from which maximum visitors : London

Journal's Impact Factor (2008) 

Impact Factor for 2008 – not indexed with Science Citation Index to have IF, at present not being cited frequently

Progress (2008) 

At present indexed with Excerpta Medica / EMBASE, Google Scholar, Index Copernicus, Scimago Journal Ranking, SCOPUS, SIIC databases.
Special issue in future : On "Hydrocephalus" in 2009

OTHER MATTERS

In 2011 we will be hosting the International Society for Paediatric Neurosurgery meetin in Goa. So the question of conducting our annual meeting came up. This was thrown open fro discussion. The members felt we cannot not have the meeting. So it was decided to have a symposium, Executive Committee and General Body Meetings only, maybe the day before the ISPN meeting.
The financial contribution by the organizers of the meeting held last year in Chandigarh to the society was appreciated and this was placed on record.

International Fellowship in Pediatric Neurosurgery Tel-Aviv, Israel

The department of Pediatric Neurosurgery is opening the bid for 2010.

For a period of 2-3 years, hard-working fellows will be exposed to and trained in modern surgical techniques, as well as gaining experience in decision-making, working in the fields of Pediatric Neurosurgery and Neuro-oncology.

Applicants should contact:
Shlomi Constantini at: Sconsts@Netvision.net.il