Joint Meeting of the Asian Society of Anaesthesiologists and the Paediatric Forum of the Indian Society of Anaesthesiologists.
Joint meeting of the Asian Society of Anaesthesiologists (ASPA) and the Paediatric Forum of the Indian Society of Anaesthesiologists was held on 22nd & 23rd November, 2003 at Jawaharlal Auditorium , All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, India. There were over 350 participants from 15 countries (Australia, Brunei, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Kenya, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, The Netherlands, and USA). Elephantine efforts by Professor DK Pawar as an organising secretary and members of the Department of Anaesthesiology, AIIMS, had made it possible to host this remarkable international conference on paediatric anaesthesia.
The opening address was followed by plenary talks. Dr. Kester Brown, the president of the WFSA, emphasized the important role of children’s hospitals for providing training in paediatric anaesthesia in his talk on “Teaching & Training in Paediatric Anaesthesia.” Dr. Masao Yamashita, Editorial Board, Pediatric Anesthesia stressed the importance of publication in sharing common knowledge in paediatric anaesthesia and encouraged more submission of manuscripts to Pediatric Anesthesia from Asian anaesthesiologists in his talk on “Our journal Pediatric Anesthesia”. Dr. Johan van der Walt, Adelaide, Australia, pointed out a higher frequency of incidents even in healthy infants and children in his talk on “Paediatric Anaesthesia-Risky Business?”
During the symposium on “Clinical Practice”, the three topics were discussed; “How good are newer anaesthetic agents? “(Fritz A. Berry, USA), “Sedation and anaesthesia outside OT” (Shani Tan, Singapore), and “Low flow anaesthesia”(Cindy Aun, Hong Kong). Other three symposia covered “Neonates”, “Regional Anaesthesia and Pain”, and “ Cardiothoracic ”. The Plenary talks on the second day were “Day Care Anaesthesia (Mahesh K. Arora, India), “Fluid therapy (Fritz A. Berry, USA), and “Anaesthesia for craniofacial surgery (Teresa Wong, Taiwan). “Common Problems” such as common cold, anaemia, benign murmur, post-tonsillectomy bleeding, the asthmatic child, and the child with trauma, and “Difficult/controversial Issues” such as foreign body bronchus, ex-premature, corneal perforation, convulsion, premedication, and suxamethonium, were actively debated in panel discussion. Meticulous combination of oversea invited speakers and local speakers provided a chance to review the problems from different angles, and provoked a lively discussion from the floor.
Our Indian colleagues were very good at handling computers and equipments and there were no troubles in computer presentation.
Forty free papers were presented in poster session. About half of them were case reports and the rest were series or study reports. It was fascinating to know how difficult cases were handled with ingenious ideas with less sophisticated devices. For example, for retrograde intubation in a child with TM joint ankylosis, a Boyle Davis tongue blade was used to facilitate the passage of the catheter in the pharynx. Many new ideas were investigated in the research papers, but a couple of them were just re-do studies of the already reported results. Dr. Fritz A. Berry (USA) and Dr. Masao Yamashita (Japan) acted as judges in the free paper presentation and in the closing ceremony recommended several reports to be submitted in the full manuscript format to international journals.
The 3rd General Assembly of the ASPA was held in the evening of the first day of the meeting. We had 14 members from 7 countries represented at the meeting. Unfortunately, this number was not enough to constitute a quorum, but nevertheless, we were able to carry on with the meeting, as there were no constitutional amendments to be made. Dr Illuminda Camagay (Philippines), outgoing President chaired the meeting and gave a brief report of the activities of the Society and the 2nd ASPA General Assembly in Cebu Philippines in 2001. The new President, Dr Shani Tan (Singapore) was installed and elections for the new Executive Committee was carried with Dr Masao Yamashita (Japan) chosen as the President Elect. Members from all 7 countries present were represented on the new committee. Discussions were fast and furious (as we had to quickly finish the business meeting and adjourn for Conference formalities) and covered issues ranging from what to do with “seed money” and profits from Scientific meetings to the venues for the next two Scientific meetings / General Assemblies.
During this meeting, our Indian colleagues have decided to form a new society, “Indian Society of Paediatric Anaesthesiologists.” The new society will work in close collaboration with other national or regional paediatric societies.
Nothing was mentioned about social events on the program we had given so we did not know about social activities after the scientific program of the first day, but to our surprise, we were fascinated by Indian dances and Indian foods. The dinner was served at the lawns of AIIMS guest house, and participants and their families enjoyed buffet style eating. Spring rolls, marinated and then barbecued cottage cheese, just name a few, were served as starters. These were followed by a main meal of Roti, Naan (Indian flat bread) with curries. Two curries for vegetarian and one for non-vegetarian. For non-vegetarian guests, chicken curry was served. Chicken is permissible for both Hindus and Muslims. As desserts, we enjoyed hot Gulab jamun (typical Indian sweet) and Kulfi (a typical Indian ice cream which is made by boiling the milk till it thickens and frozen to form ice cream). Some of the participants enjoyed the food and whisky so much and the next morning they practised meditation in their beds, while others attended especially arranged Meditation (08:15-08:45). On the 2nd day of the conference, the first session was a guided Raj Yoga Meditation leaded by Sister Shanti from ‘Bramhakumari’s’. The word Raj means Royal in Sankrit or the Supreme and Yoga means to unite. So Raj Yoga means the royal path of yoga, in other words, the art or practice of uniting our mind with the Supreme God by focusing attention on Him as an incorporeal Being-of- Light, thinking of nothing else but his divine qualities. This takes one into a state of absorption in bliss and peace through positive thinking. After the talk, the delegates had a short session of meditation under the guidance of Sister Shanti to set the mind in peace and positive for the rest of the conference. Thanks to the organizing committee for arranging this special session for the delegates.
General atmosphere of the meeting was very friendly, and participants made a lot of new friends during the meeting, and here and there, they were taking group photos with digital cameras. In many congresses, in the afternoon of the final day, there is a tendency that the audience fades away. But in this meeting, the seats were practically full until the closing ceremony, in fact, even after the ceremony, speakers were surrounded by eager audience. This meeting shall be remembered as an epoch-making gathering in the history of paediatric anaesthesia in India.
We have a big shortage of anaesthesiologists in Asia, and not many of us can have special training in paediatric anaesthesia at present, but as long as we have enthusiastic members of the ASPA, the future is in our hands.
The 4th ASPA will be held in Singapore in 2006 in conjunction with the 12th Asian Australasian Congress of Anaesthesiologists (AACA) and the 5th will be in Thailand.
MASAO YAMASHITA,
Ibaraki Children’s Hospital, Mito, Japan