KOSCON 2018

Agenda of the meeting:
1.Ratification of the new rules and regulations formulated during e-GBM: Conversion of Dr K Subramanian and Dr P N Srinivas Rao oration award to Life time achievement award. This will be presented on alternate years. [e-GBM results- yes 93% (n=74) and No6%(n=9)] Formation of awards committee to select and give the oration award. [e GBM –Yes-87%(n=73), No-12%(n=10)]
Maximum number of oration awards was suggested to be four by 84%(n=70) and six by 15%(n=13).
It was proposed to add scientific committee members to assist the scientific committee convener.
In e-GBM 81%(n=68) proposed elected candidates and 18%(n=15) wanted the members to be nominated. Also they have to have a regional representation according to 77%(n=59) and 285 (n=24) felt there should be a geographical bias.
All the above changes were ratified both in the e-GBM and the GBM held on 8th Dec 2018.
2. Election of new Office bearers: The new office bearer election was done for Scientific committee convener: Dr Elan Kumar and Dr Vikram Jain participated in the election.
Dr Elan Kumar won the election (Dr Vikram Jain =548 votes and Dr Elan Kumar =579 votes)
Dr B Shivanand Patil was elected as the Vice President.
Dr Chaitra Jaydev took over as treasurer
Dr Rashmi Jain as the editor of the e-newsletter or e chakshu.
As there were no nominations filled for honorary secretary, Dr Krishna Prasad was anonymously elected to be the honorary secretary and Dr Suneel Ganekal was unanimously elected as the Honorary joint secretary, The add on scientific committee members list is as follows: they were all unanimously elected.

North Karnataka: Dr Basavaraj Kadiwala.
Bangalore: Dr Roshmi Gupta and Dr Shibi Dev
Mysore : Dr Satish Shet
Mangalore: Dr Sripathi Kamath.
3.Office bearers regular meetings:
Dr Y L Rajashekhar, Vice president, mentioned that there is a need to conduct regular physical meetings (at least every three months) and not by WhatsApp or skype meetings as the ideas are not expressed effectively via social media. The secretary asked the KOS members about their opinion as there will be an expenditure towards the travel and accommodation. 

Dr Santhan Gopal mentioned to have skype sessions as it can reduce the cost and it will simulate a physical meeting. As the office bearers felt that there was a need for physical meeting, the KOS members mentioned that at least two physical meetings can be held for which the travel and accommodation can be borne by the KOS.

4.Increase in the KOS membership- Membership Drive: The secretary mentioned that during the year 2016-2018 he had sent mails to all the heads of the departments to encourage the post graduates to register for KOS. The KOS membership had increased from Rs.2500/- to Rs. 4000/- Secretary requested all the members to encourage the non -members to become KOS members. In addition, request letters will be sent to all the district ophthalmic societies to encourage membership drive.

To encourage more membership, the charges were redefined as follows:

Membership during the first six months (that Jan to June 2019)- Rs 2500 (by cheque/ net banking) / Rs 2600 (cash). Membership charges during the next six months (July to Dec 2019) – Rs 4000(by cheque / net banking) and 4100 by cash.This rise in membership fee should be done every 5 years.

5.Conference contribution to the KOS fund: SKOS was given Rs 10,00,000 as advance for the conference which was returned by SKOS to KOS prior to the conference. SKOS handed over a cheque of Rs 3,00,000 towards the SROC 2018 contribution to KOS. Dr Honnati mentioned that few years back Hassan LOC gave conference contribution of Rs5,00,000/- but with the increasing memberships, more delegates and trade fund in the recent conferences,the LOC are still giving only 300000/- which was too less. The office bearers and other members mentioned that the GST and other taxes are high now and it was decided in the previous GBM that a minimum of 3 lakhs or –% of the income from the conference needs to be given. The conference contribution(Rs 300000/-) from the last years’ conference held at Bangalore was handed over to the KOS.

6.CME s during the year 2017-2018: 29 CME s were held during the year 2017-2018. In addition many PG oriented program were conducted by KOS. It was also suggested that those colleges or institutions / centers who conduct many CMEs will be given some CME fund (around 100000/-) from the KOS.

7. GST number for KOS
Dr Y L Rajashekhar, Dr Chaitra Jaidev and Dr Santhan Gopal mentioned that a GST number has to be registered for KOS so that members also benefit from the receipt and this also helps in maintaining transparency of accounts. GST is required for the statutory compliance too.

8.Proposal for additional awards:
The secretary asked members if any one was interested in having the awards in their names.
Following awards can be named after the members who donate 5lakhs.
—Best paper in medical retina(Rs 5lakhs)
—Best paper in glaucoma(Rs 5 lakhs)
—Best paper in Cornea(Rs 5 lakhs)
—Best paper in squint and Oculoplasty (Rs 5 lakhs) and One oration award (Rs 10,00,000/-)

9. Conference related matters:
a. Next Conference venue It was decided to have the next year’s conference will be held at Belgaum (2019). In the year 2020, Davangere had requested however, Hubli- Dharwad wanted to conduct the 2020 conference as they had started the first conference in 1983, then they did the silver jubilee conference and so they wanted it in 2020(milestone years). Hence Davangere ophthalmologist agreed to give the chance to Hubli Dharwad to conduct the conference in 2020. Davangere and Gulbarga requested a chance to conduct the next conference (2021-2022). The office bearers said that, there were no applications from Gulburga prior to the last date. Dr santhan Gopal mentioned that both 2021 and 2022 decision cannot be taken during this GBM, it has to be decided during the next GBM.

b. Continuation of the same website and email id Dr Y L Rajshekhar , Dr Srinivas Joshi and Dr Sai Giridhar Kamath mentioned to continue with the same website, e mail id , Mobile app etc so that there will not be unnecessary expenditure on re-doing the website, email, mobile app etc.

c. Specific guidelines from KOS for future conferences: Approved by the house Vice president, Dr Y L Rajshekar mentioned that there KOS should formulate specific guidelines (Hall specifications, scientific content, audio visual system, travel and accommodation facilities and other facilities) to conduct the conference. The LOC needs to bind by these requirements. The KOS representative need to visit the conference venue and note other details mentioned in the guidelines and only then give approval for the conference in that particular location. This will enforce required standard during the conduct of the conference. All the members approved the above. They said this will be effective after the 2019 conference.

d. Conference fund signatories from KOS and LOC : NOT approved by the house  Dr Y L Rajashekhar also mentioned that there should a conference fund for which one signatory will be KOS office bearer and another signatory from LOC. This helps in transparency of accounts. Also KOS can help LOC collect funds through the trade also. None of the members approved this so it was not passed during the GBM. Hence it was decided to take opinion from all the members via e-GBM by vote.

10. Student of the year: The secretary proposed that the amount allotted for the student of the year should be deposited as a Fixed deposit. The interest will be used to sponsor him/ her to attend AIOC or International conference. The members suggested that the student needs to have a paper or a poster to attend the international conference, however the student can attend AIOC with or without paper.

11. Separate fund for Scientific Committee expenditure: The secretary, vice president and the scientific committee convener mentioned that many times the Scientific committee convener pays for many of the scientific activities of KOS. Hence to avoid this, it was decided to allot Rs one lakhs to the convener for all the KOS activities.

12. Election should be both online and on site : This was not approved by the house The secretary informed to the house that he received many calls stating that they did not receive the online election ballot and hence they were not able to vote. So the secretary mentioned that KOS also should have an option of on-site vote during the conference as practiced by AIOS. But some of the office bearers and some of the members disagreed this proposal. Few members voted for onsite voting.

Dr Santhan Gopal mentioned that a complaint signed by at least 75 members requesting for onsite voting should reach the kos office, then a decision can be taken by another GBM. Finally, it was decided against on site voting in this GBM.

13. Proposal for KOS international conference once in 3 years In addition to conducting KOC in Karnataka, the house approved to conduct international conference once in 3 years.

14.New proposals for the year 2018-2019:
a. KOS will try for cancellation of trade license and also deal with the Aayushman Bharat Issue.
b. Proposal to have a grievance cell and legal cell to help KOS members approved
c. Any issues with the PC PNDT act faced by members should be brought to the notice of the KOS Secretary and it will be dealt by the AIOS.
15. Proposal to have a permanent office for KOS. Secretary proposed to get a land approved for KOS permanent office. Members and office bearers suggested the office should be the central area so that it is easy for all office bearers to travel. However it would be better discussed in e GBM. Finally secretary congratulated the president Dr Sai Giridhar Kamath for conducting the online e-GBM and all the other office bearers for their support.

Treasurer’s Report:
Dr vikram Jain presented the report . This was approved by Dr Santhan Gopal and seconded by Dr.Krishnaprasad Kudlu
Scientific Committee convener’s report: Dr Srinivas Joshi presented the scientific convener’s report and all the office bearers and the members congratulated him for his extraordinary effort in elevating the level of scientific sessions.
Editors report: Dr Chaitra Jaidev informed that there was no article submission to journal of Visual sciences, hence it would be better to stop the journal and start e newsletter. This e-newsletter will be sent quarterly to all the members. As there was unnecessary expenditure to run the Journal websiteshe requested the permission from the house to close the website. The house approved the same. The house decided that new editor, Dr Rashmi Jain (in her absence) will work towards the e newsletter. The new office bearers took over the office from the previous office bearers. The joint secretary thanked all the office bearers and the members for attending the GBM.