Message from the President of the Asia Pacific
Hernia Society (APHS)

It is an honour and great privilege to write this message as President of the Asia Pacific Hernia Society(APHS) on occasion of the Third International Congress of APHS to be held between 25-27 October 2007 at Singapore. This region is home to more than half of the World populace and is remarkable for its diversity in terms of nationalities, race, creed and ethnicities. We are living in an era, which shall be looked upon as a watershed when the history of surgery is revisited many decades from now.

Pradeep K. Chowbey, President of the APHS

There is a virtual implosion of medical technology, communications technology and medical advancements in the global village today. The practising surgeon today is at his / her wits end trying to make sense of numerous developments occuring at rapid pace. Hernia repair may be the most common surgical procedure performed by a practising surgeon today. It is apt that hernia management is an area that a Surgeon ought to be comfortable with. A single hernia repair is unlikely to be offered in different patients, circumstances and geographical locations. Consequently the practising surgeon needs to be aware of best hernia practices from among a wide variety of different available surgical procedures.

I am thankful to all the members of the organizing committee of this Third Congress of APHS at Singapore for their herculean efforts in making this conference a landmark event. I am certain all delegates will appreciate the innovativeness and effort that has been expended for organizing this conference. I am grateful to the APHS executive members, a great team of committed professionals, for the immense help that they have readily provided to me always.

The first International congress of APHS was held at Kuala Lumpur in September 2005. The event provided an excellent start to the academic programmes of APHS and was greatly appreciated by all. The second International congress of APHS was held at New Delhi between 6-8 October 2006 and we received a tremendous response and enthusiasm. The Congress was attended by over 1000 delegates from all over India and abroad.

On a personal note, I would like to express my sincere thanks to Dr. Davide Lomanto, Organizing Congress Chairman and Secretary General of APHS and Dr. Cheah Wei Keat, Organizing Congress Secretary for excellent leadership and organizational capacity.

I wish this congress a great success.

With kind regards

Pradeep K. Chowbey
President
Asia Pacific Hernia Society (APHS)