Dear friends and respected seniors
My personal greetings to you all.
At the outset I thank God for the opportunity He has provided me to address you as your President for the year 2026. I thank each and every one of you for the faith you have put in me to serve you. I will not be standing before you as your first servant but for your love and affection.
Many successful people claim that they are self-made (சுயம்பு), and that it was because of their hard work they could achieve what they have. But let me tell you, out of my experience that none can be successful without the help and support of well-wishers both visible and not visible, laced with the grace of God. You need the good wishes of your friends, your peers, parents, family and even sometimes respect from your enemies to become someone noticeable in the society.
A small practitioner from a small town in the remote corner of Tamil Nadu, that’s what I am. It’s really a phenomenon that such a person with very little background and as a member of a very small branch, could make it to the top.
Let me peep back in to the pathway I took to reach this place. In 1999, I became a member of IMA TNSB from Chettinad. In 2001, Dr. RVS. Surendran made me the branch state council member. Soon I took up the mantle of the branch secretary and then President, all under the guidance of experienced leaders like Dr. RVS sir and Dr. M.S. Pandian who brought rich experience in as the state vice president of the undivided TNGDA. Together we three fought many battles on behalf of the members during troubled times when Chettinad saw letter pad political parties trying to bully and blackmail doctors to paying ransom for medical accidents.
The district officials started respecting our presence and the political outfits realised the futility of fighting against us.
Around this time, I came under the umbrella of my guru Dr. VVR sir, who made me NHB district coordinator – That was a real eye opener for me exposing me to the various issues faced by the hospitals in Tamil Nadu. I started to get used to terms like CPA, CEA, Property tax, Biomedical waste, insurance etc – that was a new world for me. In 2009, the big break came when my beloved brother Dr. R. Gunasekaran, with the advice of my teacher Dr. M. S. Ashraf, took me in as his Vice president of East zone. I toured the entire East zone, ultimately earning an award as the best vice president of the year. The post gave me enough opportunity to meet the leading lights of the zone most of whom have remained my best well-wishers. Between 2010, and 2013, I served as a resource person for NHB and Paramedical wing of IMA TNSB, and that helped me sharpen my skills as an efficient office bearer.
In 2009, I switched over to Aranthangi with a heavy heart, but, that branch embraced me with affection and love. This transition was made easy and smooth because of the help and support I had from my President Guna Anna, Dr. J.A. Jayalal and Dr. T.N. Ravisankar who guided me through the difficult process, and I owe them a lot for their timely help. But for them I would have been lost in history.
Here I should mention the unconditional love and support I had from my adopted branch and their leaders like Dr. V. Palvannan, Dr. J. Lakshmi Narayanan, who made me feel at home.
I lost an election for the post of NHB first time – the reason I am mentioning this is because I want members to know that winning and losing are quite normal in the association hierarchy. Later in 2014, I became the NHB secretary unopposed with the help and support of Dr. K. Prakasam sir, Guna Anna and Ashraf sir. That period of two years had been the most productive because I learnt a lot under the watchful eyes of my Bhishmacharya VVR sir. My stint as faculty secretary of CGP was a different experience under the stewardship of leaders Jayalal and Prof. Arulraj sir.
Then came the period as Honorary state secretary. I took over with lot of dreams for the welfare of the organisation and I was confident that with two able Presidents, Dr. J.A. Jayalal and Dr. S. Kanagasabhapathy, I can do wonders. I was able to steer the association through turbulent times with the support of my two Presidents and other leaders.
You may ask why I have taken so much pain to describe the journey of mine through IMA.
From an ordinary member to become a President, I personally needed the help, support, guidance and good will of so many people and they cushioned me in my troubles, encouraged me and molded me into what I am today. One last word- all these could not have happened without the backing of my family, my parents, my brothers, my children and above all my dear wife Usha, who has been a friend, guide, philosopher and above all gave me the backup without complaining in managing the day-to-day affairs of the family especially the financial burden she was often put into.
Now to the present. I want to declare that all the good work that’s going on – like Doctors Citizen Forum, BLS, Drug abuse awareness, etc will continue. In fact, I request the branches to take up DCF Diabetes detection and awareness and Drug abuse awareness in earnest and make them an important part of your activities. You may join with NGOs, and focus on higher secondary schools and colleges. We must meet the media and express our concern. The only caution is that DCF should not become a கட்டப்பஞ்சாயத்து organisation .
Insurance package talks with the government and private agencies will be given priority. I request our hospitals to be ready for a united response against companies not willing to accept the package rates as submitted by us . We’ll be forming a small core group to effectively engage the companies, and the group will have members already experienced in that.
Next will be the fight for the removal of clause 5(2) of CEA that gives the authorities the right to closure of a hospital without enquiry or notice. Though past leaders have achieved a truce, with the government promising that they will not summarily close a hospital, still we need to ensure that the clause is removed once and for all. Also in future we have to place a monitoring team to keep track of all GOs affecting our field of practice.
Past has given us a bad memory of misappropriation of IMA funds.
We’re very lucky to have in our team Dr. M. Thiraviam Mohan and Dr. D. Solomon Jeya who when they were office bearers of their schemes, did a very efficient job of accounts keeping. With their support I intend to put in place an uniform method of accounting, which will be transparent and easy to understand. I’m sure that our experienced FSC chairman Dr. A.K. Ravi Kumar and the IAC team led by my beloved Guna Anna with talented members Dr. N.R.T.R. Thiagarajan and Dr. S. Gowrishankar will help me in this. We’ve to ensure that there will not be any more such pilferages as that happened in the past.
Purchase of land for a complete headquarters building has eluded us. This year we’ll try to identify a hassle-free piece of land and go for construction.
MEMBERSHIP – Any organisation is as strong as it’s membership number and the only way your voice will be heard in the echelon of power, is by increasing it. For that we’ve to show our present members and prospective members that IMA is the ultimate safe house in their professional practice especially for the defenseless young doctors. We’ve to showcase NHB, PPLSSS and FSS in such a manner at the branch level so that instead of us begging new members to join, they’ll request us to enroll them in our great organization. An apex committee will be formed with senior leaders and daring young members to come out with a blue print to increase the membership.
An Action committee with a mixture of doyens and young devils with uniform representation across the state will be formed to act as an effective force to respond to crisis across the state.
I take this opportunity to congratulate our outgoing team of Dr. P. Senguttuvan Anna, and brothers Dr. S. Karthick Prabhu and Dr. S. Gowri Shankar who are stepping down after a memorable performance of duty to our organization. Together they’ve made IMA an inevitable part of government programs, stressed our stand on issues, resisted closure of hospitals etc.. The jewel on the crown is the way Dr. S. Karthick Prabhu handled the minimum wages issue in a successful manner.
Dr. S. Gowri Shankar has been the thread tying all the flowers together and had been a vocal support to his team by his immaculate handling of accounts.
The team deserves our appreciation. If you look beyond this year, we’re lucky to have two leaders with great vision waiting to continue service to IMA – Dr. A. K. Ravi Kumar and Dr. N.R.T.R. Thiagarajan; it’ll be a great pleasure working at tandem with them.
I seek all your support to carry the organisation to greater heights and consolidate the good work done by our predecessors.
Long live IMA
With regards,
Dr. B. SRIDHAR
President, IMA TNSB
