Venue: Gayatri Vihar, Palace Grounds, Bangalore

Walt Disney once said “We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths”. And on 19th January 2017, there were curious minds who had come together to learn, to know and spread the knowledge.

PEDICON 2017 is a prestigious EVENT, a 54th National conference of Indian Academy of Pediatrics. This national conference is one of the most awaited national event for IAPians, Pediatricians and all others eagerly looking forward year after year for the event! PEDICON stand out as one of the largest Conference of its kind in India! With 4 successful PEDICONs to its credit, IAP–Bengaluru hosted this prestigious Conference between 18th to 22nd January 2017 in Gayatri Vihar, Palace Grounds, Bangalore. The Conference was entitled with a theme “Nurture the girl child : Nurture the nature”

The inauguration of Pedicon 2017 was on 19th January 2017 in the presence of Dr.Anupam Sachdeva, President IAP; President-Elect IAP Dr. Pramod Jog,Imm. Past President IAP; Vice President IAP Dr MP Jain; Dr. Bakul Jayant Parekh, Hon. Secretary General, IAP, Chair, Reception Committee; Dr. Karunakara B. P., Chief Organizing Secretary; Chief Guest- Dr Sharan Prakash Patil, Minister for Medical Education, Govt of Karnataka; Guest of Honor- Mr MR Seetharam, Minister for Planning, Statistics, Science & technology, Govt of Karnataka; Treasurer Central IAP Dr. Sandeep Bapu Kadam; Joint Secretary Dr. Ajay Gambhir; Dr S Srinivasa, Treasurer; DR Geetha Patil, President IAP BPS.

The evening began with the invocation verse which was followed by a welcome speech by Chief Organizing Chairman, Dr M Govindaraj. After which, the dignitaries on stage inaugurated the evening by lighting the lamp. During lighting of lamp IAP song was played and as a due respect to the anthem the audience raised from their seats. Opening speech was delivered by the chief guest Dr. Sharan Prakash Patil which was followed by the guest of honor Mr. MR Seetharam. Mementos were handed over to the speakers; souvenir was released by the chief guest and the evening continued with other speeches. Firstly, Chief Organizing secretary Dr BP Karunakara spoke; which was followed by producing the year’s report by Hon. Secretary General of IAP, Dr.Bakul Jayant Parekh; after which Speech was delivered by Outgoing Past President, Dr.Pramod Jog; Post which exchange of medallion took place while the Ex-president Dr. Pramod Jog,Imm handed over the medallion to the current president Dr.Anupam Sachdeva; After which, Presidential address was given by Dr.Anupam Sachdeva.

Finally, the vote of thanks was delivered by treasurer, Dr. S Srinivasa. The evening continued with different awards for fellowships, FIAP Awards, IAP Branches Awards, appreciation certificates were handed over which was followed by release of books.

I am very grateful to the entire team of Pedicon, IAP organizing committee for choosing me to be your compere for the event. A special thanks to Dr. Sumitha Nayak for believing in my work. Thank you & my good wishes to the entire team of Pedicon 2017!!