Dear Colleagues,

Welcome  to the website of the Indian Orthopaedic Association (IOA).    
 
         The Indian Orthopaedic Association represents the voice of its 8000 strong orthopaedic surgeon members working in India and in many other countries. The IOA  is now 55 years old and is concerned with elevation of the standards of orthopaedic education, training and care in the country, academic ties with other countries and with the welfare of its members.
       
This year’s Presidential theme is Better Patient Care …. Through Education and Research. The theme can be looked upon as a consortium of ideas and action for better patient care. Largely it looks at the following areas:

1. Better Patient and Doctor interaction through patient education and awareness, the surgeon’s training in communication skills, data management, informatics etc. We are aiming to upload a lot of patient education material through the website. The state chapters are being requested to hold patient awareness programs and circulate such information through various modalities.
   
   
2. Undergraduate and postgraduate orthopaedic education – content and curriculum, training format and monitoring of training, an exit examination for postgraduates as a mark of excellence in the profession.
   
   
3. Education for the superspecialities and for the practising surgeons – we need to define the superspeciality curriculum with the help of the different speciality societies, identify and recognize centres of excellence for training, define the training format and conduct an exit examination in the superspecialities, again as a mark of training and excellence.
   
   For the practising surgeons we aim to introduce new fellowships and training opportunities with help of the state chapters which would identify centres of excellence and create such opportunities in each state.
   
   
4. Research : Innovative research into the problems of our population needs to be encouraged and we plan to hold research training workshops and lectures in the state chapter conferences. The Research Foundation of the IOA will help and guide in designing research studies and I hope that members will utilize their services.

I am happy to tell you that the theme on Better Patient Care will be also actively pursued by Dr. Rajeev Naik, our President Elect. The theme was also voted as the theme for the decade by the executive committee of IOA. Work on the theme has started and with involvement of all members, we are sure to change things for the better.

 

Dr. Ashok N. Johari