Indian Society of Organ Transplantation: New Era

Dear Esteemed colleagues, I am writing this column after taking over as ISOT president being supported by the proactive executive committee. Former president Prof. Sunil Shroff had provided new initiatives in 2021–2022, which have gone above and beyond in leading by example with regard to team working, cross-specialty collaboration, and raising awareness of how the social determinants of health such as organ donation drive affect and save many lives. I congratulate his leadership for these endless efforts. Prof. Manisha Sahay editor-in-chief of the Indian Journal of Transplantation has commendably published every edition suitably representing the broad spectrum of scientific literature. As she demits editorship, I say a big thank you, as she hands over the reins of the journal to Prof. Narayan Prasad. As we are all aware of the lacunae in transplantation immunology, transplant-related infections, and appropriate transplant-related multiple organ biopsy interpretation, I convened a zoom meeting of Prof. Dolly Daniel (Immunologist), Prof. Priscilla Rupoli (Infectious disease), and Prof. Seethalakshmi (Pathologist) with Prof. Vivek Kute last week to form subcommittees. These three will work 24 × 7 through the website to give timely support to all transplant facilities across India. I express my thanks for their commitment. Having been the organizing chairman for ISOT 1997 and 2015 in Chennai, I understand how pressurized is our transplantation landscape. I request our trainee nephrologists, urologists, Pathologists, infectious disease people, other multi-organ transplant physicians, and surgeons to join the society to strengthen our society and be beneficiaries. The collaborative efforts undertaken by ISOT, the British Transplant Society, and the European Society of Transplantation on a mutually respectable platform will accelerate our efforts in terms of the exchange of knowledge. Short-term and long-term fellowship programs and other exchanges should be utilized to the best of our efforts. Our young members in the executive and membership are exemplary value to the society. They are an absolutely vital part of our commitment to encourage upcoming youngsters to develop an active role in future issues that matter to them in our influencing work. The pandemic greatly disrupted our work. Nevertheless, Prof. Vivek Kute and other colleagues put in extraordinary efforts to show the transplant community across the world of our challenges and solutions through publications. They deserve special appreciation. Although we lost some patients during the first and second waves, we gained much-desired experience in the management of our patients. As the misinformation and paucity of information and unnecessary hype created by some media demoralized our eminent doctors and uncalled punishment action by certain government authorities falling prey to misinformed advice, we have to stand together as a responsible body to take and deal with these challenges effectively. The discussion highlighting legal issues by Prof. Sanjay Agarwal along with ISN and facing the media in a previous incident was highly educative. We require a strong legal cell to protect our doctors. I also look forward to bidding for a future WCT in India. I take this opportunity to congratulate the three Indians Prof. Manikkam Suthanthiran, Dr. Gomathy Narasimhan, and Prof. Vivek Kute for receiving prestigious awards by TTS at the WCT in Buenos Aires, Argentina. They are the face of India. I wish you all a Happy New Year. Figure 1 is the picture of Prof. Krishna Menon, President BTS; Gabriel Oniscu, President ESOT; and myself.Figure 1: Gabriel Oniscu, Georgi Abraham, Krishnan Menon