Secretary Report
Dr. Habibul Haq Siddiqui (1974)

Mr. Chairman and my dear colleagues,

It gives me great pleasure to see so many of the anaesthesiologists assembled together, solely with the purpose of increasing contacts and furthering the fellow feeling. Today is the biggest assembly of anaesthetists in this country for which I am grateful to every single person present here.

Secretary’s report usually consists of review of past achievements. I intend to make it very short. However I must remind you of the tenderness of the plant of our society, the seeds of which were laid on 13th March in meeting of anaesthetist held at PMA House Karachi. On that day the Society of Anesthesiologists was created, Rules and Regulations adopted and decisions taken to hold a meeting on first Monday of every month. These meetings were regularly held till war broke out on 3rd December.

In Oct. 1971 just before the PMA’s biennial conference in Lahore I was deputed by the society to contact various anaesthetists in the hope of widening the scope of society on all Pakistan basis. On 3rd April 1972 in the general body meeting of the society I produced written evidence in favor of an All Pakistan Society from the following persons – Prof. Rustum Nabi from Lahore, Prof. Jamil Ahmad from Peshawar, Dr. Khurshid Begum from Multan, Dr. Fazilah Akhtar Zafar from Hyderabad and Dr. J. A. Qureshi from Quetta. So on this day PSA come into being. In the same meeting I was asked to get a new constitution approved by postal consultation and to contact WFSA for affiliation. Amendments to the present rules and regulations were drafted and sent to various members for approval. Letters were also sent to Prof. Mayrhoffer in Vienna and Prof. Doglas Joseph in Sydney for possible affiliation to WFSA and Asian Australian Congress. I am sorry to say that not a single member replied to my communication with the result that a Society without any constitution could not be registered. I also had to ignore reminders from Prof. Mayrhoffer Prof. Douglas Joseph and from Prof. Pritam Singh of India in reply to my own request for affiliation. As all three gentlemen were personally known to me I did not have the courage to face them and therefore I did not attend the Vth World Congress of Anaesthesia held in Japan in 1972. I must confess that I became heartbroken and society lay dormant for full one year. There were only two meetings in 1973 and that is the second meeting of this year.

I have narrated all this today in the hope that you will all realize the importance and the necessity of having such an organization. There is a lot that can be done through a well knit society – I therefore re earnestly request you to look after yourself by giving full moral and financial support to your society. In the end I must thank all of you for being present here today.