In 1986 the Association of Surgeons of India held a symposium on “Surgery in rural areas” with these surgeons. Following this a survey was conducted to find out the working conditions of these surgeons to which 140 surgeons responded. It was found that 45% of them work without a qualified anesthetist, 68% without a qualified radiologist, 68% without a qualified pathologist, 63% without any blood bank facilities. And 32% without any of the above facilities. 96.4% of them performed abdominal surgery, 68.3% performed orthopedic surgery, 80.2% performed obstetric and gynecological surgery, 29.5% performed thoracic surgery, 81% performed urological surgery, 15.5% performed ENT surgery and 66% performed more than three of the above mentioned categories. This survey was done by Dr. R.D. Prabhu, of Shimoga, Karnataka. 56 of such surgeons requested the Association of Surgeons to accept this from of surgical care as a specialty for the benefit of the majority population of the country which was turned down in 1992. This inevitably led to the formation of the Association of Rural Surgeons of India (ARSI) in 29 November 1992, and in September the same year the First National Conference of Rural Surgery was held in the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Sevagram, Wardha, India, A book was released titled Concept and Practice of Rural Surgery, and a newsletter was started on Rural Surgery. Till today, Sep. 2004, twelve national conferences have been held in different parts of our country and the thirteenth is going to be held this year at Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh in Sep. 2005. The Association of Surgeons of India has now finally recognised this as a specialty.

Contact us: arsicon2024@gmail.com