First of all I thank the API Tamilnadu Chapter for electing me as President of this prestigious Association for the period 2019-20. I thank API,Madurai for their excellent scientific feast.

I welcome you all to Madurai, a historical, spiritual and cultural capital of Tamilnadu. The temple city, Jasmine district, the city’s name is derived from ‘Madura’ which means sweetness.

Madurai played host to The Tamil Sangam which was the academy of poets and bards in ancient times. Now Madurai is hosting this prestigious Annual CME of Association of Physicians of India .

This city has given stalwarts of Medicine like Prof.K.Srinivasan, Prof.Kasirajan,Prof.S.S,Annamalaisamy,Prof.Alagappan,Prof.Rengarajan and many more.

I want to mention two great leaders of API, Dr.A.Muruganathan sir and Dr.S.Arulrhaj sir. These two people are roll model for all my API activities. They inspired me by their academic activities and organizational capability.

I also remember my great teachers Prof.G.Sankaralingam sir, Prof.V.G.sir and Prof.J.R.E. sir who shaped me as a physician. API is not a body for fighting for our rights or problem. For that our parent body IMA is there. API is for spreading knowledge among doctors and people.

I’m sure all of you can recite the three arcs of our long-range strategic plan.
The first strategic arc is reimagining medical education and lifelong learning.
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn” -Benjamin Franklin

Medicine is not mathematics. The concept of diseases and management protocols are changing time to time. We have to update our knowledge. We have to spread the knowledge not only to physicians but also to all doctors. So,we request you to conduct branch level CMEs not only in the district head quarters but also in the peripheral towns in collaboration with local IMA branches.

Regarding medical education, our national API leaders can influence the MCI for certain changes. The period for I MBBS should be 18 months as it was 20 years back.It is very difficult for the students to learn the three basic subjects i.e. Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry in 12 months. I hope our national representatives will take necessary steps in this matter. Another issue is that the number of students admitted in a medical college should not exceed 150. If we increase the student’s strength, the quality of education will be poor.

Our second arc… confronting the challenge of chronic diseases. This includes our focused work on pre-diabetes and better control of hypertension. Nowadays many young people including doctors are dying dueto the complications of these two diseases. All of you know that atherosclerosis starts in the embryo. So, prevention is important than treating the diseases. We should educate the people regarding life style modification like exercise, healthy diet habits, avoiding over eating, intake of salt, sugar and oil restricted diet etc from childhood. Children should be taught about the ill effects of smoking and alcohol consumption. I request you all to avoid serving alcohol in API Meets. We can prepare health education materials and display in the hospitals.

And the third strategic arc is attacking the dysfunction in health care….. by improving the environment of the patient-physician setting. Before prescribing drugs we should talk to the patients regarding their disease, problems ,life style modification and the need to continue the drugs for the required period. We should teach them about environment sanitation which is very important for controlling both communicable and non communicable diseases.

“The Health of nations is more important than the Wealth of nations”

Our nation can’t afford to travel backward when it comes to health care and life expectancy. We need to work creatively, and collaboratively, to move forward; to create a health care system that deserves a place in the 21st century.

When are we self sufficient in our health system? Increase in number of doctors? No. Opening of more medical colleges? No. Increase in number of health care facilities? No. When there is a decline in the number of diseases and patients only, we can claim that our nation is Healthy.

Tonight is very special for me and I am honored that each of you is here to share it.
It’s truly a dream come true to stand before you tonight.
Tonight, I would like to thank, API Tamilnadu and Tirunelveli members, my teachers, my family members and my friends.
I have chosen as the theme of my inauguration “Arise and Awake”
Through this great organization, we believe we can uplift our entire profession … improve care for ALL of our 1250-plus million fellow Indians .
We don’t run away from problems … physicians run towards them!
That is our role, our responsibility, our API mission.
While a year is not a long time, like all who came before me, I, too, hope to leave a mark on the API.

I’ll close with one quote from Maya Angelou, American poet, who said, “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away.”
For me, tonight is one of those moments.
I am honored that each of you is here to share it with me, and by the trust you have placed in me.
I can promise you that the legacy of the API will be in good hands as we work together “to transform one million realities.”
And as I stand here as your president, I’m reminded of the immense power in our collective hands.
Together we are not just stronger… when we join hands and speak up for our patients … we are unstoppable.

Jai Hind!

Thank you.

Prof.A.S.Mohan,M.D.,F.I.C.P.,
Chairman, API Tamilnadu Chapter,
2019-20