Past Conferences

By 1955, there were about four to five plastic surgeons devoting their full time to this speciality and there was a desire to form an Association. Thus, in the Annual General Body Meeting of A.S.I. held in December, 1956 at Indore, Dr. R.N.Sinha moved a resolution to this effect. A sub-committee was formed with Dr. C.P.V. Menon of Madras as its Chairman and Dr. R.N.Sinha as the Convenor to frame Bye-laws and Regulations for an Association of Plastic Surgeons of India - as a Section of Association of Surgeons of India.

In the year 1957 considerable interest was created in Maharashtra following the visit of Sir Harold Gillies. He was pleasantly surprised to see deformities being treated by tube pedicles and other modern techniques of plastic surgery. He applauded the excellent work that Major Sukh was doing in the field of Rehabilitative Plastic Surgery at the Armed Forces Medical College, Pune. It was not only an eye-opener for all., but a surprise to Dr. Gillies himself. Many war casualties had extensive stay in his unit for such procedures of rehabilitation. Sir Harold Gillies also demonstrated various operations and techniques at Kandhwa Leprosy Centre, where Dr.N.H.Antia was working. Dr. Gillies, as the founder of modern plastic surgery was keen to propogate knowledge in this speciality in one of the most populous countries of the world. He visited and lectured at several centres in the country including Nagpur, Calcutta, Delhi, Patna and Jaipur . At Nagpur, in December 1957, he inaugurated the Association of Plastic Surgeons in India - as a section of A.S.I. The Association elected the following office bearers :

This was indeed a great historic moment and Dr. Gillies was made the first honorary member. Dr. Gillies stayed in India for about three months and before leaving for England he insisted on a token payment of Rs.100/- to Dr. Antia as an inspiration to continue his efforts in establishing a Department of Plastic Surgery at a Government Medical College in Bombay. This proved to be a great morale booster and the first unit of plastic surgery started at J.J. Hospital, Bombay in December 1958 with Dr. Antia as its Head.

In December 1958, at Lucknow, the Association elected : -

Rest as members of the Council for a period of three years i.e. up to 1960

In December 1960, at Pune, the following office bearers were elected :-

And the rest as members of the Council.

A Burns and Plastic Surgery Unit was established in 1961 at K.E.M. Hospital, Bombay, by Dr. Charles Pinto. Mr. E.W. Peet of Oxford was a regular visitor to this unit.

Dr. R.L.Maneksha after his return from abroad in early fifties continued doing Plastic Surgery under the Department of General Surgery. Later he was responsible for establishing the Unit of Plastic Surgery at G.T.Hospital, Bombay, in early sixties.

Dr. J.L. Gupta after 5 years of post-graduate training in various British centres of Plastic, Maxillo-facial, Burns and Hand surgery, was interviewed in India House, London, and selected for the post of Reader in the Department of Plastic Surgery at Medical College, Nagpur, which he joined in January 1961. Dr. Gupta was greatly impressed by Prof. C. Balakrishnan who had completely adapted himself to Indian conditions while maintaining international standards.

In December,1961 at Baroda, Dr. R.J.Maneksha and Dr.J.L.Gupta were added to the Council of Members. The first summer conference of the Association was held at Nagpur in 1964. The most outstanding feature of the conference was the brilliant presentation on the classification of cleft lip and palate by Prof. C. Balakrishnan; now known throughout the country as Nagpur Classification.

The first batch of post-graduate students trained in our country appeared for their examination from Nagpur and Patna Universities in 1962 and 1963 respectively. Dr. J.L. Gupta was the first external examiner at Patna.

In 1963, the Government decided to start a Department of Burns, Plastic and Maxillo-facial Surgery at Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi. Dr. J.L. Gupta had the honour of starting and developing this unit and by shear hard work and dedication it became a major unit of Plastic Surgery in India in a very short time. It still is the largest burn centre in the country.

In 1964, Dr. J.L. Gupta organised the first Post-graduate Medical Education Conference. It was convened by the Medical Council of India under the Chairmanship of the then Union Minister of Health Dr. Sushila Nayyar at Delhi. She had convened this meeting to standardize post-graduate curriculum of different specialities which was then to be carefully supervised by the Medical Council of India. To draft the syllabus for Plastic Surgery the following attended the Post Graduate Medical Education Conference.

Dr.R.L.Manchanda and Dr.R.K.Keshwani from Patiala joined as Observers.

This Conference was a hallmark in laying down guidelines for physical standards and criteria, the teaching requirements, the course and curriculum leading to the degree of M.Ch. in Plastic Surgery in India.

The Conference of A.S.I. due in December 1964 was postponed due to Indo-Pak conflict and was later held in Delhi, in March 1965. The Association elected the following office bearers.

Then in 1966 at Manipal, the Association elected the following.

Dr.R.N.Sharma represented our Association at the International meeting held at Rome in 1967. Thus , APSI joined the International Confederation of Plastic Surgeons.

By December 1967, the Association had grown to about 66 members (including 37 full members). At this time the Association elected the following.

By 1968, we had 11 plastic surgery centres in the country at Nagpur, Patna, Lucknow, Bombay, Pune, Delhi, Chandigarh, Patiala, Madras, Madurai and Calcutta. From 1968 -1974 the following were elected as Presidents of the Association, Dr. C. Pinto, Dr. R.L. Maneksha, Brig. R. Ganguly, and Dr. J.L. Gupta.

In the last three decades, there has been tremendous growth of Plastic Surgery. The number of teaching centres increased and the Association established several travelling fellowships for training within and outside the country. A few specialized centres of excellence for management of burns, hand, micro-vascular surgery, cranio-facial surgery and aesthetic surgery also developed by dint of hard work, and special interests in different parts of the country. The Indian Journal of Plastic Surgery started in 1981 to bring together all the professionals involved to disseminate and advance their knowledge.

Since 2011, 15th July each year is being celbrated as 'National Plastic Surgery Day. to spread awareness about Plastic Surgery amongst the doctors and the general public. It is marked by organising for doctors, medical students and for the general public. Philanthropic activiies are also done on this day.

The following were Presidents and Secretaries of the Association after 1974.