News & Events

The 10th National Conference of Indian Doctors for Peace and Development (IDPD) held at Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna on 5th and 6th March 2016 ended with a resolve to make this world a better place for living. In this concern it was decided to launch a massive campaign for the abolition of nuclear weapons, check on the proliferation of small arms and diversion of funds from arms race to health and development. Expressing concern at the failure of successive governments to meet the goal of health for all, the conference decided to continue to work for a health policy with pro people outlook instead of present corporate oriented approach towards healthcare

The 10th National Conference of Indian Doctors for Peace and Development (IDPD) held at Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna on 5th and 6th March 2016 ended with a resolve to make this world a better place for living. In this concern it was decided to launch a massive campaign for the abolition of nuclear weapons, check on the proliferation of small arms and diversion of funds from arms race to health and development. Expressing concern at the failure of successive governments to meet the goal of health for all, the conference decided to continue to work for a health policy with pro people outlook instead of present corporate oriented approach towards healthcare. For this the IDPD will continue to build public opinion for effective steps for a lasting peace in South Asia. The ongoing arms race in the region particularly between India and Pakistan is causing excessive burden on exchequer and thus affecting the expenditure on health, education and development. The nuclear weapons from the earth have to be abolished because they can annihilate all the flora and fauna from the earth. As medical professionals it is our duty to prevent any such event which could affect the life system. Shri Vijay Chaudhary, Speaker Vidhan Sabha Bihar was the chief guest of the occasion. Dr Daniel Bassey – Co President IPPNW was the guest of honour. Several eminent personalities of Bihar addressed the conference and fully supported the goal of IDPD for a world free of nuclear weapons and violence of all kinds. Varied subjects were discussed during the deliberations of the conference. A special session was devoted to the health policy in which presentations were made by Dr Mohan Lal, Dr Madhumita Chatterjee, Dr B N Paria, Dr Arun Gadre, Dr Shanthi and Dr Sadanandam. Low budgetary allocation to the health in the recent union budget was strongly criticized and it was demanded that a minimum of 4% of the GDP should be spent on the health by the state sector. Stress on the public private partnership model will only lead to providing benefits to the corporate sector and marginalized the poor people from healthcare benefits. The policy of giving insurance coverage for health will never be able to meet the comprehensive healthcare of our citizens rather it will give huge profits to the insurance companies. In the as another session Dr Daniel Bassey gave a presentation on “Nuclear Zero the only Option” in which he highlighted on the necessity of complete abolition of nuclear weapons from the earth because even a limited nuclear exchange could put over two billion people at the risk and cause death of over 20 million people. Prof. Ajay Patnayak from the School of International Studies Jawahar Lal Nehru University dwelt on the perspectives of peace in South Asia and stressed that despite several obstacles the South Asian countries should continue to hold dialogue to resolve the issues. Dr Nirmal Polle from West Bengal gave a presentation on the health effects on nuclear radiations. Dr Shakeel Ur Rehman made a presentation on the health effects on the people living around Jadugoda uranium mines. Dr Satyajit Kumar Singh cautioned that the elite of this country cannot be allowed to enjoy at the cost of lives of poor people like in Jadugoda. He was referring to the study conducted by the IDPD in 2006. This session was co chaired by Dr Dharmendra Kumar and Dr Yudhisthir Dass. Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Vinod Saighal warned in his speech that if we do not take effective steps to prevent the negative changes occurring in the climate we are bound to be doomed in near future. Dr Niranjan Bhattacharya, Head of the Department of Regenerative Medicine in the School of Tropical Medicine Kolkata gave a talk on the role of stem cells in reducing the damage during nuclear accidents because of inherent property of regeneration in the stem cells. Mrs.Amarjeet Kaur warned that the efforts to curtail freedom of speech and to impose homogenous culture in the country will effect our unity in diversity and would disturb the social harmony. This is being done intentionally to divert attention of the people from the failure of the government to meet the aspirations of the people including their healthcare needs. Such a situation could turn violent and cause serious damage to health of the people and the nation. The session was chaired by Dr Subhas Chakraborty, Dr Prem Shankar Pandey and Dr Rajani. The delegates debated the steps to be taken to strengthen the organization. Dr Jeetendra Singh gave a presentation on this issue. Dr N S Bawa conducted a quiz among the students. Dr Jaswinder Singh co chaired this session. A souvenir was compiled by Dr Abhay Gaur and was released by the chief guest. The delegates hailed from Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, U.P, Maharashtra, Bihar, Jharkhand, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu, Karnatka, West Bengal, Tripura and Manipur. The conference elected team for the future. Dr L S Chawla was elected as the lifetime patron of the organization. Dr S S Soodan was elected as President. Dr Shakeel Ur Rahman as the General Secretary. Dr Satyajit Kumar Singh and Arun Mitra were elected as the Senior Vice Presidents of the IDPD. Dr Usha Shrivastava, Dr.Nara Singh, Dr Navinder Singh Bawa, Dr Tejbir Singh, Dr G.M.Malik as Vice Presidents. Dr V Sadanandam, Dr.Yudhisthir Dass, Dr.Sudhir Dhakre, Dr.Subhash Chakaraborty, Dr Dharmendra Kumar, Dr Ravindranath, Dr Jeetendra Singh as Secretaries. A central council was elected to carry forward the activities. Dr Gaganpreet Singh was elected as students coordinator. Mr Aneesh was elected as the National Students Representative of the IDPD. Mr Ankush, Mr Yahya Khan, Ms Vennela, Ms.Sharavani and Mr Ankit Kumar were elected as Co NSRs. Mr.Sidharth & Mr Onam Gupta as Co Ordinators for ICAN & Small Arms Project respectively. The Pan Asia IPPNW medical students and young doctors meet which was held along with on 4th and 5th March. In this delegates from Japan, Philippines, Indonesia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Germany and India took part. Each delegation gave presentation on their activity report. The students decided to carry forward the work more effectively and charted out a strategy of action. Prominent student leaders include Dr Ryoma, Mr Bimal and Ms Aino.