History of

CENTRAL ZONE OF

INDIAN ORTHOPAEDIC ASSOCIATION

Author : Dr SC Goel, Varanasi

A meeting of orthopaedic surgeons from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh including respective Presidents and Secretaries was held on 19th December 1996 at Calcutta during IOACON 96 on the initiative of Dr SC Goel. The following members were present: Prof. DK Taneja, Indore; Prof. UK Jain, Lucknow, President UP Chapter, Prof. R Kumar, Gaya, President Bihar Chapter; Dr. Promod Singh, Bhopal, President MP Chapter; Dr. Rakesh Bhargava, Bikaner; Prof. M Bashir Alam, Patna; Prof. Nirbhay Srivastava, Bhopal; Dr. HKT Raza, Jabalpur; Dr. SN Goyal, Indore; Dr. Rajesh Patel, MP; Dr. Farasat Hussain, Gaya; Dr. KP Singh, Patna and Dr. SC Goel, Varanasi.

The members discussed the feasibility of bringing together the orthopaedic surgeons of these neighbouring states of central part of India to facilitate the exchange of scientific data and information and give a felling of fellowship. It would further give the members a platform to discuss their problems which are common given the same socio-economic status in these states. It was also pointed out that the north, south and western zones of Indian Orthopaedic Association are already functioning, catering to the needs of orthopaedic surgeons of those areas.

The members proposed that a CENTRAL ZONE OF INDIAN ORTHOPAEDIC ASSOCIATION should be formed comprising Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. All orthopaedic surgeons who are members of these chapters would be eligible to join central zone. Other modalities would be discussed at the first conference of the central zone after ratification by the respective chapters.

Unfortunately there was some delay in ratification. A meeting of Presidents and Secretaries of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh Chapters of IOA was held on 16th May 1998 at Patna. The meeting was presided over by Dr HN Sinha, Vice President of Indian Orthopaedic Association. It was unanimously resolved to form The CENTRAL ZONE OF INDIAN ORTHOPAEDIC ASSOCIATION comprising the existing states UP, MP, Rajasthan and Bihar and it was resolved that the President and Secretaries of UP, MP, Rajasthan and Bihar Chapters of the IOA shall be founder members of the central zone. It was further resolved that the first conference of Central Zone will be held at Nalanda Medical College, Patna on 12th march 1999. Dr VS Singh, President, BOA will be the Organising Secretary of the inaugural conference of Central Zone Chapter.

The election of office bearers and formation of constitution committee will take place in the general body meeting of the inaugural conference at Patna. The Convenor of Central Zone, till the election of the bearers shall be Dr. SC Goel, Professor of Orthopaedics, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. He was authorized to open and operate Bank account in the name of Central Zone.

The General body meeting of the Central Zone of IOA was held during the inaugural conference at Nalanda Medical College, Patna on 12th March 1999. The meeting was convened by Dr. SC Goel, convenor of the Central Zone and presided over by Dr. HN Sinha, Chairman, centre- State relations of IOA. The general body was attended by 65 members. The question of membership was discussed and it was resolved that to encourage all the members of the state chapters to become life members of Central Zone IOA, the life membership fee will be Rs. 500 till 31st December 1999. It was resolved that the annual conference of Central Zone IOA will be held along with the State Chapter for 4 years. After which it will have separate conferences. The next annual conference of Central Zone of IOA will be held at Bhopal in Jan / Feb 2000. Dr. Umesh Batra will be the organizing Secretary.

Till the formation of the constitution of Central Zone IOA, it was decided that generally the constitution of IOA to be followed and the following executive committee was elected
President :- Dr. VS Singh, Ptana
Vice President :- Dr. CS Sharma, Jaipur
Secretary:- DR. SC Goel, Varanasi
Treasure:- Dr. Umesh Batra, Bhopal
Members:- Dr. OP Singh, Lucknow; Dr. KP Singh, Patna Dr. SN Goyal, Indore; Dr. Trilok Gupta, Bharatpur.

In addition the Presidents and Secretaries of the State Chapters of UP, Bihar, MP and Rajasthan were also co-opted as members of the executive committee.

The second annual conference of Central Zone of IOA was held in the Lake city of Bhopal on 15th & 16th January 2000 with Dr. PK Rai as Organising Chairman and Dr. Umesh Batra as Organising Secretary. There was a well attended Pre conference workshop on Fracture fixation with special emphasis on Acetabular fractures. Dr CJ Thakkar, Mumbai, Dr SSK Marthandam, Chennai, Dr. NK Magu, New Delhi, Dr. Pankaj Devatia, Ahmedabad, Dr. SS Babhulkar, Nagpur formed the faculty. Dr. NS Laud was the chairman of the faculty. The lectures covered all aspects of acetabular fractures with hands on workshop. Ankle & Wrist fracture were also discussed in detail.

More than 250 delegates attended the conference of this nascent body. There were 16 guest lectures by galaxy of speakers from all over the country. The speakers included Dr. Jhunjhunwala, Mumbai, Dr. PK Kanabar, Ahmedabad, Dr GS Kulkarni, Meeraj, DR Anil Jain, New Delhi, Dr. SK Mukherjee, Raipur, Dr. NS Laud, Mumbai and Dr. SS Babhulkar, Nagpur. The scientific material presented was of high quality. There was a Medal session for Post Graduates and general delegates. The winners were Dr. Dinesh Sharma, Seoni (MP Chapter medal for Best paper) and Dr. Vinay K Tewari, Varanasi (Best PG Paper). The panel discussing on Consumer Protection Act was most interesting. The panelists were justice Dubey, Bhopal along with Mohar Chapsey, New Delhi. The panelists were asked lots of questions by the delegates which were elaborated by the panelists for the benefit of audience. The highlight of the conference was the evening of fun & frolic at the banquet held in Sprawling Lawns of the Greenwood club.

The next annual conference of Central Zone of IOA has to be organized by Rajasthan in the alphabetical order. However, as no member from Rajasthan attended, it was decided the next conference will be organized by the Uttar Pradesh. Opinion of the members from the UP was sought and it was decided the next venue will be Varanasi and Dr. Ajit Saigal will be the Organising Secretary. In the absence of the constitution provision, the new executive committee was elected with the following office bearers.

President - Dr. PK Rai, Bhopal
Vice President- Dr. BH Khan, Patna
Vice President- Dr. PM Gadre, Kanpur
Secretary- Dr. SC Goel, Varanasi
Treasure- Dr. Umesh Batra, Bhopal
Joint Secretary- Dr. Ajit Saigal, Varanasi

3rd annual conference of the Central Zone of Indian Orthopaedic Association was held at Varanasi in Hotel Clarks Tower on 13th, 14th and 15th April 2001. It was attended by more than 200 delegates. The conference was preceded by two Workshops. The subjects were Spinal Fixation and Interlocking Nail. The conference was inaugurated by Dr SS Babhulkar, President IOA and was attended among others by Dr HKT Raza, Secretary, IOA.

In the conference guest lectures were delivered by Dr. S Pandey, Dr. HKT Raza, Dr. AN Varma. Dr. Satyanand, Dr. NK Agarwal and Dr. PM Gadre. There were many good papers and poster presentations. Social evenings were good and well appreciated.

The members noted the progress made in the adoption of constitution for the Central Zone and it was unanimously decided to adopt the constitution on the lines of IOA with necessary modifications. A draft constitution was decided to be circulated to the executive members of the Central Zone IOA

To make conferences more attractive, orations / medals should be introduced. The following two orations were instituted.
a. Dr. BN Sinha oration – to be delivered by an eminent Orthopaedic surgeon.
b. Dr B Mukhopadhyay Oration – To be delivered by immediate Past President of Central Zone.
c. Medals : 1.
MP Chapter medal for best paper presented in the conference – all age groups. For the MP chapter medal, Dr. Umesh Batra has promised to pay Rs. 10,000 from the savings of CEZCON held at Bhopal. 2.
It was decided to institute another medal for the best paper presented amongst Post graduate students. This medal will be known as Dr. TP Srivastava medal. Dr. Ajit Saigal agreed to provide the finances for this medal.

Elections: The following office bearers were elected
President : Dr. S. Pandey, Ranchi
Vice Presidents : Dr. SK Mukherjee, Raipur;
Vice Presidents Dr. AN Varma, Allahabad

At the 3rd annual conference of the Central Zone of Indian Orthopaedic Association held at Varanasi in April 2001, it was decided to have the next conference at Ranchi (Jharkhand). The conference was scheduled to be held at Ranchi on 3rd and 4th August 2002. Unfortunately due to riots at Ranchi the conference could not take place. Later various colleagues in Chattisgarh, Rajsthan etc were contacted for holding the next conference but it could not materialize.

Renewed efforts were made in 2004 to revive the Central Zone and Prof AN Varma, Head, Department of Orthopaedics, MLN Medical College, Allahabad came forward to host the conference. Dr. UB Yadav, Department of Orthopaedics, MLN Medical College, Allahabad was the Organising Secretary. The conference was held on 28th and 29th October 2004 with a pre conference workshop on Hand. First time two Dr B Mukhopadhya orations were held and were delivered by Dr VS Singh and Dr PK Rai, first 2 presidents. Dr BN Sinha Oration was also started and was delivered by Dr DK Taneja, Past President IOA.

Dr SC Goel finished his term as secretary and was elected as President in recognition of his services to the central zone of IOA. Dr Umesh Batra of Bhopal was elected as Secretary and Dr Amulya Kumar Singh of Patna as Treasurer.

A mid-term symposium was also started to have a mid year activity of the central Zone in 2005. First symposium was organized by Dr Umesh Batra at Bhopal in April 2005 on Injuries around Elbow.

Fifth annual conference was organised at Jaipur on 15th and 16th October 2005 by Dr Rakesh Bhargava. It was well attended. Dr Sureshwar Pande delivered Dr B Mukhopadhya oration and Dr RN Mathur delivered Dr BN Sinha oration. Two workshops on Ponseti technique and LRS were also held. Draft Constitution of Central zone which has been circulated by Secretary Dr Batra earlier was discussed and adopted. Dr Rakesh Bhargava was elected President and Dr JDP Sinha President Elect.

Second mid term symposium on Fractures of Acetabulum along with a workshop was organized by Dr MKA Sherwani at Aligarh in April 2006.

By the next conference at Patna, the Central Zone of IOA has come off age. Constitution as adopted at Jaipur conference was ratified. It was a well organized conference in Patna from 13th to 15th October 2006. Dr Amulya Kumar Singh was the Organising Secretary. Dr Rakesh Bhargava gave a stimulating Presidential address. Dr B Mukopadhya Oration was delivered by Dr SC Goel. Dr JDP Sinha took over as President and Dr Subir Mukherji of Raipur was elected as President elect.

Since then regular Annual Conferences and Mid term symposia of Central Zone of IOA are being held. Annual Conference in Year 2020 and Midterm symposium in 2021could not be held due to Pandemic.