Dr. P. Raghu Ram, President elect of Association of Surgeons of India (ASI) and Director, KIMS-USHALAKSHMI Centre for Breast Diseases in Hyderabad delivered COL. PANDALAI ORATION at the 78th Annual Congress of The Association of Surgeons of India (ASICON 2018) in Chennai. This is the highest academic honour that can be achieved by a Surgeon practicing in India and Dr Raghu Ram is the first and only Surgeon from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh in the 80 years history of the Organisation to have delivered the Association’s most prestigious Oration.

Attended by close to 10, 000 Surgeons from all over India and abroad, ASICON 2018 was held at Chennai Trade Centre in Chennai from 26 – 30 December 2018. Association of Surgeons of India (ASI) is Asia Pacific’s largest and World’s second largest Surgical Association that represents the surgical fraternity across the length and breadth of Ind

Dr Raghu Ram was felicitated by Shri Bhanwarilal Purohit, Hon’ble Governor of Tamil Nadu and by Shri Palaniswami, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for having delivered COL. PANDALAI ORATION during the inaugural ceremony.

A Surgeon of outstanding eminence is hand picked every year to deliver this prestigious Oration based upon a lifetime of transformational initiatives implemented by that individual Surgeon that has made substantial impact to the delivery of healthcare in India.

Speaking on this occasion Dr. Raghu Ram said ” Delivering ASI’s most prestigious Oration has well and truly been a high point in my life. I thank lord almighty for giving me this distinct honour and unforgettable privilege.”

Titled ‘TRANSFORMING BREAST HEALTHCARE THROUGH DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION’, Dr Raghu Ram’s oration focused upon four Landmark initiatives that have revolutionized breast health care in India

1. Conceiving designing and establishing KIMS-USHALAKSHMI Centre for Breast Diseases, which is theSouth Asia’s First dedicated Breast Health Centre in Hyderabad.
2. Founding Ushalakshmi Breast Cancer Foundation, a not for profit Breast Cancer Charity that hastransformed breast cancer from a ‘taboo’ issue to a much commonly discussed issue over the past ten years through a number of unique initiatives, thus creating the much needed awareness about importance of early detection of breast cancer
3. Implementing South Asia’s largest population based Breast Cancer screening programme that has reached out to well over 200, 00 underprivileged women spread across 4000 villages in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh
4. Establishing Association of Breast Surgeons of India, which is Indian subcontinent’s first dedicated breast surgical society that represents general surgeons, surgical oncologists and plastic surgeons involved in management of breast diseases, thus paving the path for standardizing breast health care in the Country.

THE HINDU

https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/top-honour-for-new-chief-of-surgeons-body/article25854466.ece?fbclid=IwAR1OTIk7ne4fK3QypGcG6cB6BowD13CgfXKs7GJ7lN-ZIPu8DPIfHQhNg7Q