| Popis: |
Mr Chairman, President and members of the Council of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, President and members of the British Association of Plastic Surgeons, Members of the Guinea Pig Club, Ladies and Gentlemen. I consider it a great honour to be invited to deliver the McIndoe Lecture for 1998. Born in British India, I know the close bonds that have existed between our Nations over the centuries. Sir Archibald Mclndoe, a New Zealander by birth, came to Great Britain in the year 1930. In 1939 he went to the Cottage Hospital in East Grinstead on behalf of the Ministry of Health as a Plastic Surgeon and medical superintendent. His efforts in developing this centre during World War II and beyond are an excellent example of a pioneer developing a plastic surgery unit. He was the first plastic surgeon to be elected to the Council of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and later became its Vice President. He was knighted for his achievements in 1947. He had the distinct honour of being the only civilian whose mortal remains were interned in the Church of the Royal Air Force. Subsequently, the Guinea Pig Club came forward to honour him by instituting this lecture to be delivered biennially starting in 1962. In a fitting tribute to his organisational skills, I have chosen the topic of 'Developing a Plastic Surgery and Hand Surgery Unit in India' for my lecture. I plan to elaborate the pattern of healthcare in India, the challenges in developing a speciality like Plastic Surgery and Hand Surgery, a few contributions we have made to the art of plastic surgery, and above all the lessons I have learnt during this endeavour. The healthcare system in India is structured on the lines of the National Health Service in the United Kingdom. I had the opportunity to listen to Mr Aneurin Bevan, who was the architect of the National Health Service in 1953 and his scheme is more relevant to my country because the vast majority are below the poverty line. The preoccupation of the state machinery in our country with other pressing political and economic problems and the factor of constant financial limitations has relegated the problem of healthcare to the background. It is well known that the art of Plastic Surgery |
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