A Brief History

The Indian Association of Chest Diseases was established in the year 1959, with fifty-eight founder members. It was formally inaugurated at the time of Indian Science Congress by the Late Sir Arcot Lakshamanaswami Mudaliar, Vice Chancellor, Madras University, in January, 1959. Dr. V.K.R.V. Rao, Vice Chancellor, University of Delhi, presided. Soon after the inauguration, the first business meeting was held under the Presidentship of Late Dr. A. V. Baliga.

The Association is a registered body functioning essentially for the promotion of the cause of chest diseases and allied sciences. According to the rules of the Association, the first elected members of the Governing Body including the Chairman held office for five years. Later, the rules provided for election of office bearers of the Governing Body as follows: “While the Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer will hold office for 3 years, the members of the Governing Body along with the Governors of the National Chapter of the American College of Chest Physicians will hold office for 2 years”. In 1968, it was resolved that due to the help and cooperation extended by the Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute, the Director of the Institute will be the ex-officio member of the Governing Body.

The first annual conference was held in January, 1960 jointly with the Association of Physicians of India and other specialist organisations at New Delhi. Subsequent annual conferences were also held jointly with the Association of Physicians of India till 1963, in which year the Association sponsored the VII International Congress on Chest Diseases in New Delhi. The following year, the Association held its fourth annual conference independently at New Delhi. The President of the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh, was a special invitee and guest of honour and he presided over the symposium on ‘Recent Advances in the Chemotherapy of Tuberculosis’ in New Delhi, open not only to the specialists but also to the general practitioners. The Association held special symposium on ‘Respiratory Allergy’ in New Delhi in 1967.

In 1974, the Association held its annual conference jointly with the Tuberculosis Association of India.

As part of the aims and objectives of the Association, a Journal, namely ‘Indian Journal of Chest Diseases’ was started and the first issue came out on July 1, 1959. The journal was quarterly published jointly with the Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute, Delhi University.

In 1976, in keeping with the progressive thinking, the name of the journal was changed to the ‘Indian Journal of Chest Diseases and Allied Sciences.’

The Indian Journal of Chest Diseases and Allied Sciences is the official publication and is published jointly with the Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute, Delhi. This journal has been widely acclaimed at both national and international levels.

At the annual meeting of the Association held in 1964 both, the Governing Body and the General Body, decided to institute a prize for the best article on any aspect of chest diseases published in either Indian or foreign periodicals, by a young scientist below 40 year of age. In order to give encouragement to our scientists it was decided to extend the prize to the best paper presentation at the annual conference. To maintain a high standard, the prize can even be omitted for that year, if the quality of no paper comes up to the required standards in any such conference.

INDIAN ASSOCIATION FOR CHEST DISEASES was renamed as

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NATIONAL COLLEGE OF CHEST PHYSICIANS (India) in 1981

The Indian Association for Chest Diseases (IACD) in its meeting held on November 15, 1979-subsequently ratified by the General Body meeting held on November 6, 1979, unanimously decided to change the name of IACD to National College of Chest Physicians (India) and to make consequential changes/amendments in the memorandum of the Association, and its rules and regulations. Accordingly, a sub-committee, duly constituted for this purpose, re-drafted the memorandum, and the rules and regulations which were approved by the prescribed authority in a special meeting convened on June 30, 1980 and duly confirmed at a subsequent special meeting of the General Body held on August 14, 1980 at the office of the Tuberculosis Association of India, 3 Red Cross Road, New Delhi. The National College of Chest Physicians (India) thus came into being in January, 1981.

The Association/College has held 33 conferences with A.P.I. since its inception in 1959. Since the 28th Annual Conference in Delhi, the College has organized its annual conferences independently (NACCON). These conferences have proved to be highly successful and have been chaired by the President of NCCP(I). From 1999, the NCCP(I) with ICS is having about Joint conferences – NAPCON.

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  CHAPTERS

  At present the college has a few Chapters created under different Zones:

  • North Zone – Delhi Chapter at Delhi
  • Central Zone – UP Chapter at Kanpur
  • West Zone – Rajasthan at Jaipur
  • Gujarat Chapter at Ahemedabad
  • Maharashtra Chapter at Nagpur (to be created this year)
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  ZONES

  According to the constitution of NCCP (India), there will be a Chapter for each of the Five Zones, provided there are at least 15 Fellows/members in the Zone. Five Zones as recognised w.e.f. 27.7.89 are as follows -

  • North Zone - Comprising of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi/New Delhi.
  • East Zone - Comprising of West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura.
  • Central Zone - Comprising of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
  • South Zone - Comprising of Tamil Nadu, Kamataka, Pondicherry, Kerala, Andaman & Nicobar and Andhra Pradesh.
  • West Zone - Comprising of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa and Rajasthan.

  The Zonal Chairman will be responsible for the promotion of academic and scientific activities in their region. The Chapter will have its own regulations for the proper functioning in the Zone.

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  Fellowships of the National College of Chest Physicians of India

  It was initially decided that all existing fellows of the American College of Chest Physicians would be taken as the Founder Fellows of the National College of Chest Physicians (India).

  It was further decided that the selection of new fellows would be restricted to eminent scientists engaged in the chest specialty and allied sciences. The application of the candidate for fellowship will be scrutinized by a high power Credential Committee and its recommendations should be duly approved by the Governing Council and then by the General Body. The College has on its roll approximately 1500 Members and Fellows.

  The NCCP(I) has a website nccpindia.com. The NCCP (I) has published a Directory of College having detailed information about every fellow and member of the college, which is updated after every 5 year.

  The Joint venture of NCCP (I) and ICS i.e. NAPCON has been a grand success providing opportunity to every person in the specialty to come under one roof and to achieve the maximum scientific benefit. The NAPCON has been attended by eminent persons from American Thoracic Society (ATS), American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), European Respiratory Society (ERS), Asia Pacific Society of Respirology, Chest Specialists from abroad and from neighbouring Asian countries, NRIs. Etc. I wish this joint venture to continue in times to come and all persons of this Specialty remain united.