Minutes of the General Body Meeting 31st Annual Conference of the Karnataka Ophthalmic Society 3 Nov 2012 at Al-Ameen Medical College, Bijapur
The General Body was presided by the KOS President Dr.Rama Mohan Rao. He welcomed all the members present. The agenda of the GBM was read out by the Hon. Secretary, Dr.Sai Giridhar Kamath. One minute silence was observed as mark of respect to our dear departed members, Dr. Neelakantan, Dr.K Subramanian and Dr. D Chamaraj Dr. P Mohan spoke a few words about Dr.Neelakantan, Dr.K Sridhar about Dr. K Subramanaian and Dr. Rama Mohan Rao on Dr.D Chamaraj. Minutes of the previous Annual General Body meeting held at NIMHANS Convention Centre, Bangalore on 12 Nov 2011 were read by the Secretary. Secretaries report was read by Dr.Sai Giridhar Kamath and was accepted. The points which arose and were discussed are as follows:
- 30 New members have joined this year
- 21 CMEs were conducted under the Aegis of KOS in this year
- New auditor and accountant were engaged, CA B Bharath Shanbhogue and Mr.Sudhir Bhagat respectively, as the 5 year term of CA Kiran Kumar and accountant Mr.Ravi Dambal got over. Their services to the KOS were appreciated.
- The issue of ‘Liability to AIOS’ problem in previous balance sheets had been sorted out by the auditor.
- GBM minutes have to be typed and uploaded so that subsequent secretaries will be informed and up to date.
- MC meetings were held in Bangalore, Shimoga and Mangalore. It was decided that there need not be too many physical MC meetings as we have excellent communication facilities like email discussions and video conferencing if required. But all the decisions taken by email discussions will have to be ratified in the following physical MC meeting.
- PG Fellowship was awarded to Dr.Soumya Sharath, who is currently doing her fellowship at Sankara Eye Hospitals, Bangalore
- Even though KOS was registered in June 2005, renewal of registration of KOS, with the Registrar of Societies, was not done for several years now and it has to be tackled with priority.
- Secretary thanked the President, Dr.Rama Mohan Rao for his ever ready advise and willingness to help and also his proactive role in KOS
administration and to the President Elect, Dr.Madhav Honnatti for the help in organising the KOS membership directory and address list for the last several years.
The secretaries report was accepted and seconded by Dr.M S Ravindra and Dr U S Narsapur.
Scientific Committee report was read out by Dr.Deepak Megur and was accepted and seconded by Dr.H S Mohan and Dr.Ravi Nadgir. The points which arose and were discussed are as follows:
- 21 CMEs were conducted this year – they were distributed certificates.
- Glaucoma awareness rally was held in Bangalore and several other districts,with great success, and significant media attention.
- Said working lunch would save time as delegates will have to go to the dinining area and lunch if not ready, lot of time is wasted. Said it would be better to serve working lunch in hall itself.
- There was opposition from the general body – Dr Nadiger pointed out that it is not possible for delegates to sit in a room and listen to lectures and free papers continuously from 9 am to 6 pm.So if the time is insufficient,number of accepted free papers and instruction courses has to be reduced, to make it more practical.
- It was generally agreed after lots of discussion that there should be a lunch break and that lunch packets can be made to be handed over to the delegates in the dining area, which would make the process of having food much more efficient and faster without wasting much time.
Editor’s report was read out by Dr.Raju S,and was accepted and seconded by Dr. Prashanth Isloor and Dr.Narsapur
Treasurer’s report was read out by Dr.Shivaram K V and was accepted and seconded by Dr.Narsapur and Dr.Santan Gopal. Points that arose and discussed were as follows:
- Rs 30 lakhs FD deposit with Vijaya Bank, will mature on 31/08/2013 and will need renewal for another 3 years.
- In 2008 GBM, Shimoga, it was decided not to break this FD under any circumstances.
- Chakshu Budget was capped at 1.5 lakhs per year from KOS in 2008 GBM,
presently 3 issues had come out and one more is pending. Editor said that they have collected enough advertisements so that KOS will not be burdened. Printing has costed us Rs 2,39,253/- and courier Rs 69,337/- for 3 issues, one previous years and two this years, one more issue is due in December 2012. - BOS had donated a generous amount of 2,00,001/- at the BOS Summit.
- FD of 6,50,000/- was made this year, as sweep account, which can be withdrawn in units of 1,000/- should the need arise.
- As there is excess amount in SB now, planning to shift another 5 lakhs to sweep account now.
- Dr Santhan Gopal – said that we should make KOS, ‘not for profit’ organisation so that like AIOS, there will be no income tax problems.
Venue of the Next Conference:
There was proposal from South Kanara Ophthalmic Society to have 32nd KOS conference at Mangalore. But GB discussed it in detail and then finally the next venue was chosen as HASSAN, Dr.Shivaprasad B N said they will leave no stone unturned to make it a memorable conference in Hassan.
Any other points to be discussed with the permission of the President KOS:
- Dr Sai Giridhar Kamath mentioned about the sudden demise of Dr.RajwinFernandes, a young ophthalmologist from Mangalore in a freak bus accident on the way to Bangalore. He was not a KOS member, but had joined AIOS and FBS-AIOS.His family was given the fraternity benifit of Rs 14.5 lakhs from FBS-AIOS. So a sincere appeal was made to all the KOS members to join AIOS and also take the FBS-AIOS, which is an excellent scheme to give the benifit of protection to family at a very affordable and extremely low premium.Details are available from AIOS website.
- Resolution from Dr Suresh Isloor – Regarding delegate registration for senior citizens. There was extensive discussion and then finally GB aggreed that Registration Will Be Free To Delegates Aged More Than 70 Years AND Also For Spouse, (Associates Delegates) If Aged More Than 70 Years, provided their registration is done before the first cut off date (Early Bird). If the registration is done after the Early Bird date, the same fees have to be paid at par with others.
- When CMEs are conducted under the Aegis of KOS, some points are to be considered and rules made by the managing committee are to be followed by the organisers of the CME – these rules are in the KOS website under Byelaws.
- Minutes of the previous GBM, has to be typed and maintained by the outgoing secretary and a soft copy has to be sent to Dr.Sai Giridhar Kamath, the webmaster of KOS website, to be uploaded.
- It was pointed out that the inauguration should be in the morning, there was lots of discussion and then they said there it is better in the evening.
- It was decided not to call any politician but someone local, so that there is no undue delay in the inauguration ceremony. Protocol for inauguration is to be made by the managing committee and it has to stick to timing of 60 minutes or so.
- Working lunch was proposed by Dr.Krishnaprasad, after some discussion it was proposed by Dr.Sundaram Shetty and accepted by the GB that there would be a lunch break but there will be working lunch.
- The timing of inaguration in the morning was proposed by Dr.Nadgir, then Dr.Sathyamurthy opposed it, saying that time will be wasted and there will be problem for scientific programme. Dr.Sridhar proposed the timing of inauguration as 12 noon to 1:30 PM and was accepted by the GB.
- Dr.Honnatti proposed that all district associations will have to pay a nominal amount of Rs 100/- per year and get affiliation to KOS
- The GBM proceedings will have to be videographed and handed over to the secretary of KOS by the organising committee of the conference.
Election of New Office Bearers:
Nominations had been received for the following posts:
Hon Treasurer: Dr.Chandrashekar M G, proposed by Dr.Sunil G, seconded by Dr.Surya Prakash
Convener Scientific Committee: Dr.Sunil G, proposed by Dr.M R Honnatti,seconded by Dr.K Krishnaprasad
Hon Secretary: Dr Sai Giridhar Kamath, proposed by Dr.Manjunath Kamath,Seconded by Dr Gurudutt Kamath
Vice President: Dr Umesh Megur, proposed by Dr.Ajay R Kamath, seconded by Dr.Sai Giridhar Kamath
President Elect: Dr M Mahabaleshwar, proposed by Dr.M R Honnatti, seconded by Dr.T K Ramesh
Editor Chakshu – the name of Dr.Elan Kumaran was proposed on the floor and was accepted by GB.
Joint Secretary – the name of Dr.Rajesh BTJ, was proposed on the floor and accepted by the GB.
SAI GIRIDHAR KAMATH
Secretary KOS