Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held at Hotel Clarks Amer, Jaipur, 25th November, 2012 at 08.00am.

The 1st Annual General Meeting was held on the occasion of the 1st National Conference of Indian Society of Transfusion Medicine, at Hotel Clarks Amer, Jaipur on 25th November, 2012 at 08.00am in the present of the following executive Committee members:

 

Agenda-1:

The president Indian Society of Transfusion Medicine, Professor Neelam Marwaha welcomed the members and expressed satisfaction and gratitude at the enthusiastic membership response.

Agenda-2:

The secretary, Indian Society of Transfusion Medicine. Professor Rajendra Chaudhary gave an overview of the objectives of the society and apprised the members about the Special Resource Groups. The Chairpersons of the SRGs had been identified. The members were requested to join their respective groups of interest.

Agenda-3

The Treasurer, Indian Society of Transfusion Medicine, Dr.P. Agarwal read out the statement of accounts.

Agenda-4

The members were informed that the Asian Journal of Transfusion Science is now also the official journal of ISTM in addition to ISBTI. This decision was taken in the Advisory Committee Meeting of the Journal, held at Mamallapuram, Chennai on 14-09-2012, in view of the common membership of the two sisters Indian Societies and Advisory Board of the journal.

Agenda-5:

Any of the item with permission of chair. Few of the members wished to know about the date of election for the next executive committee. The president informed that the founder executive had so far been busy with registration, membership and website of the society. It would in due course work out election strategy. The meeting ended with a vote of thanks to the chair.

Minutes of AGM held on 14th Sept 2013 at TajVivanta, Bengaluru

The 2ndAnnual General Meeting of Indian Society of Transfusion Medicine was held on the occasion of the 2nd National Conference of Indian Society of Transfusion Medicine, at Hotel TajVivanta, Bengaluru on 14th Sept, 2013 at 5 PM in the presence of the following executive Committee members:

 

Agenda-1:

The president Indian Society of Transfusion Medicine, Professor NeelamMarwaha welcomed the members and expressed satisfaction and gratitude at the enthusiastic membership response.

Agenda-2:

The secretary, Indian Society of Transfusion Medicine, Professor Rajendra Chaudhary gave an overview of the objectives of the society and apprised the members about the Special Resource Groups. The members were requested to join their respective groups of interest and to make it more interactive. Dr.Chaudhary also briefed the members about progress of work on ISTM website.

Agenda-3

The Treasurer, Indian Society of Transfusion Medicine, Dr.P.Agarwal informed that certificates for life membership of the society are ready and they are available for collection at the conference venue. Those who are unable to collect them here, the certificates will be sent by post. He also requested that members may please acknowledge the receipt of the certificates by return email. The statement of accounts was read verbally; however, Dr R N Makroo advised that it should be made available to all members as a hard copy. The suggestion was accepted

Agenda-4

Professor Neelam Marwaha, President announced that ISTM will have its first elections for the Executive body in 2014. Prof Marwaha read out the detailed procedure for conducting elections as per the constitution of the society.

Two members (one from the central office, Lucknow and one member of ISTM) of the society were nominated unanimously for the scrutiny committee for the elections of ISTM. The names of the members as under:

1. DrAtul Sonker, Associate Professor, Transfusion Medicine, SGPGI, Lucknow
2. DrJayashree Sharma, Professor, Transfusion Medicine, KEM Hospital, Mumbai

Agenda-5:

The issue of utilization of surplus funds of the annual conference was discussed. Members gave various suggestions as following. DrShivram suggested that 60% of the remaining amount be given to the central body and 40% be retained with the organizing committee of the conference to be utilized for academic activities at local level.

DrSrinivasan suggested that collection of funds and settlement of all payments for organization of annual conferences should be done by the central body of ISTM. However, this suggestion was not accepted by the members. Finally, Dr.Shivram suggested that the organizing committee of the annual conference should donate Rs 10 Lakh or 50% of the remaining funds, whichever is more to the central body of ISTM. This suggestion was accepted by all members.

Agenda-6

As per the policy of rotating ISTM annual conferences in all the regions of the country, it was unanimously agreed that 3rd annual conference of ISTM will be held at Ahmedabad by Dr M D Gajjar in 2014 and 4th annual conference will be held at Kolkata in 2015.

Agenda-7

Any otheritems with permission of chair DrLathaJagganathan suggested that ISTM and ISBTI should organize conferences alternate years to increase the number of participants in the meetings. However, this suggestion was not accepted as membership of these two societies is different. Dr.Prashant Agarwal added that ISTM members would be able to attend both conferences, but many of the ISBTI members would not be able to attend the ISTM conference

Finally, DrShivram donated Rs 10 Lakh from the surplus funds of the conference to the central body of ISTM. This gesture was highly appreciated by all the members. The meeting ended with a vote of thanks to the chair.

Minutes of AGM held on 15th Nov 2014 at TRANSMEDCON2014 venue, Ahmedabad

The 3rd Annual General Meeting of Indian Society of Transfusion Medicine was held on the occasion of the 3rd National Conference of Indian Society of Transfusion Medicine, at TRANSMEDCON2014 venue (Gujarat University Convention Center), Ahmedabad on 15th Nov 2014 at 5 PM in the presence of the following executive Committee members:

The President, Indian Society of Transfusion Medicine, Professor Neelam Marwaha welcomed the members and expressed satisfaction and gratitude at the enthusiastic membership response.

Agenda 1: Condolence

The meeting started with condolence to Late Prof Sudha Bhat, HOD Transfusion Medicine at Kasturba Medical College, Manipal by observing two minutes of silence for peace to the departed soul

Agenda 2: Changes in the election process of the Executive Committee of ISTM

Prof R K Chaudhary, Secretary ISTM, presented the proposed changes in the existing Rules and regulations and following points were deliberated:

• Issue of annual membership was discussed and this category of membership was scrapped. It was also decided that the life member will have right to vote only after one year of membership. Those who have become life member on or before the 31st March of preceding year of the election shall be eligible to vote.
• Eligibility criteria to be member of ISTM: the proposal that professionals who have PhD in life sciences and are active in the field of Transfusion Medicine should be included in the eligibility criteria for life membership of the society. It was decided by vote of majority that a new category of membershipAssociate Member should be included for individuals working in the field of Transfusion Medicine and have PhD in life sciences. It was also decided that this category of members will have no voting rights for election of Members of the Executive Committee
• The issue of increasing the life membership fee from existing 5000/- to Rs 7500/- was discussed and it was unanimously decided that there should be no change in fee for time being, it may be considered after five years. It was also decided that the Associate Membership fee should be Rs. 4000/-
• Institutional Membership: for deciding on the issues pertaining to institutional membership, such as whether or not there should be any institutional membership and if yes, what should be the eligibility criteria for institutional membership a committee including Dr M D Gajjar, Dr Debashish Gupta and DrDheeraj Khetan was constituted to submit their recommendations in this regard till 30th Jan 2015.
• It was decided that the term Governing Body should be replaced with Executive Committee in the constitution document to remove ambiguity.
• As per the constitution, 2/3rd members are required for quorum for holding AGM. In the absence of required quorum, the AGM was required to be held at the same venue after two hours for which no quorum was necessary. In view of the logistic issues it was decided that the postponed AGM meeting will be held at the same venue after 30 min instead of 2 hours.
• Post of President Elect was scrapped.
• It was decided that Chairpersons of SIGs will no longer be the members of Executive Committee, instead six posts of zonal representatives were added. After detailed deliberation on the issue, it was decided that the zonal representatives will be elected from amongst the zonal members and the election will be done centrally for logistic issues. Zones of membership will be decided based on the region of work rather that birth or home town. Following zones were finalized- North, South, East, West, Central and North-east.
• Tenure of Executive committee was increased to 3 years from existing 2 years
• It was unanimously decided that the experience required for the post of Vice president should be increased from 5 to 8 years
• It was also decided that one of the joint secretaries will be nominated from registered Headquarter (Dept of Transfusion Medicine, SGPGIMS, Lucknow) of the society.
• After detailed deliberations, it was decided that the post of Editor should also be elected and the elected editor may be assigned duties such as development of website, ISTM Newsletter, until ISTM has its own journal.

Agenda 3: Revision of Election rules

A draft of revised rules for election of members of Executive Committee was prepared and presented by Prof R K Chaudhary, Secretary ISTM. Following changes have been incorporated in the revised constitution after due deliberation and approval of all members:

 

• Clause for eligibility to cast vote added (point no 10.ii)
• Fee for contesting election increased from 2500 to 5000 (point no 10.xi)
• The duration between dispatch and receipt of ballots increased from 30 to 45 days (10.xvi)
• Clause to avoid conflict of interest added (10.xxvii): In case the Secretary is contesting for any post in the Executive committee, in order to avoid conflict of interest, the President will nominate one non-contesting member of ISTM as the Convener for elections. The nominated member will have at least 10 years of experience in the field, should be non-office bearer, should not be from the same department / institute from where any member is contesting for executive post and should not be the nominee to any contesting member. The nominated convener will undertake all the functions of the secretary as may be necessary for conduction of the elections.
• Outer cover will be numbered and not the ballot paper (10.xxvii)
• Suggestion by DrGajendra Gupta that information of election of ISTM executives should also be available on the ISTM web site and therefore there is need to expedite the development of ISTM website was approved by all the members. It was also agreed that once website is functional, option of e-voting should be explored.

 

Agenda 4: Introduction of JG Jolly award

All members of AGM unanimously agreed to introduce ISTM award in the name of Late Prof J G Jolly. The details of award are incorporated in the revised constitution

 

Agenda 5: Organization of annual ISTM conference

So far the annual ISTM conference rules were not included in the constitution of ISTM. The draft of conference rules was presented to all members and it was approved to be included in the revised constitution. It was also decided that ISTM HQ will provide Rs 2 lakh as seed money to the organizers of TRANSMEDCON as refundable loan

 

Agenda 6: Utilization of surplus funds of Annual conference

All the members agreed that either Rs 10 lakh or 30 % of the balance amount (whichever is greater) from the organizing committee of the annual conference be given to ISTM

 

Agenda 7: Venue of TRANSMEDCON

As per the rotational policy of allotting venue for Annual conference of ISTM, the TRANSMEDCON to be held in 2016 was allotted to Bhopal, Central Zone. It was discussed that as per the revised policy of ISTM, the TRANSMEDCON 2017 shall be allotted to North East Zone. In the absence of any application from North East (to be received till July 2015), the venue will be allotted to North Zone

 

Agenda 8: Introduction to TRANSMEDCON 2015

DrSudipta Das, Organizing Secretary of TRANSMEDCON 2015, gave a presentation on preparations of TRANSMEDCON 2015 to be held at Kolkata, West Bengal. It was appreciated by all the members. Meeting ended with vote of thanks by Prof R K Chaudhary, Secretary ISTM.

Minutes of AGM held on 5th Dec 2015 at TRANSMEDCON2015 venue, Kolkata

The 4th Annual General Meeting of Indian Society of Transfusion Medicine was held on the occasion of the 4th National Conference of Indian Society of Transfusion Medicine, at TRANSMEDCON2015 venue (Hotel Hyatt Regency), Kolkata on 5 th Dec 2015 at 5.30 PM. Following executive Committee members were present in the meeting.

 

 

- The Chairperson and the President of ISTM Professor Neelam Marwaha began the proceedings by welcoming every member present.

 

Agenda 1: Status of Membership and Website

DrRajendraChaudhary, Secretary expressed satisfaction and gratitude at the enthusiastic membership response in the year 2014-15. Secretary ISTM informed the house that 440 members have joined the society and the website is already updated and prepared and can be accessed at www.istmweb.org

 

Agenda 2: Election schedule of the Executive Committee of ISTM The information about the process/ time lines of the next election for executive committee of ISTM was shared. Following is the schedule of election process:

 

 

Agenda 3: ISTM Fellowships

Prof R K Chaudhary, informed the members regarding ISTM fellowship. He informed that there would be two fellowships for Plasma Exchange / Stem Cell and two fellowships in the subject of Immuno-hematology. It was decided that the both the fellowships would be for postgraduate student in Transfusion Medicine only, pursuing M.D or DNB. AGM 2015

 

Agenda 4: Venue of TRANSMEDCON 2017

As per the rotational policy of holding TRANSMECON in all 6 zones of the country, Guwahati, was selected as the venue for TRANSMECON 2017. DrTirthaChallia expressed her apprehension about decreased attendance in TRANSMEDCON due to organization of annual conference of ISHBT in 2017 in Guwahati around the same time. However, DrMeinaSingh, assured the house that this should not be a problem as dates for TRANSMEDCON can be adjusted accordingly. Majority of the members advised DrTirthaChallia, to try to hold TRANMEDCON before the annual conference of ISHBT to ensure good attendance.

 

Agenda 5: Society Account Statement for FY 2014-15

DrPrashantAgarwal, Treasurer of the society, presented the audited statement of the society accounts for FY 2014-15. Some of the members demanded that soft copy of the same be presented before the AGM. DrPrashant Agarwal agreed to share the softcopy of the account statement from FY 2015-16.

Upon enquiry by some of the members, DrPrashant informed that M/SSharad Srivastava& Co, Lucknow has been chosen by the Executive committee as CA for audit of society accounts.

The account statement was proposed by DrPrashant Agarwal, seconded by DrSikandar Hayatt and approved by all the members present at the AGM. The members also agreed to continue with the services of M/S Sharad Srivastava& Co, Lucknow for audit of accounts for the society.

 

Agenda 6: Introduction to TRANSMEDCON 2016

Prof Manisha Shrivastava, the organizing secretary of TRANSMEDCON 2016 announced the dates as 18, 19, 20 November 2016 at Bhopal and invited all the members for active participation in the conference.

 

Agenda 7: Other Issues with permission of the Chair

1. Dr R N Makroo raised the issue of the Income tax exemption for society donations, Dr Prashant informed that the society needs to document some charity work for getting the income tax exemption.
2. Dr Gajendra Gupta suggested that financial powers of Executive committee for expenditure of ISTM funds should be decided. He also suggested that any expenditure beyond the limits decided for executive committee should be first approved by AGM. Prof Neelam Marwaha, President, ISTM, informed the house that in principle the proposal of Dr Gajendra Gupta seems justified and the limit/ ceiling of expenditure may be decided by elected Executive Committee in the next AGM, 2016. It was agreed by all the members.
3. Dr Sushila Innah, raised the issue of uniform nomenclature for MCI recognized MD degree. She suggested that ISTM should take initiative in this regard and pursue with MCI. It was proposed that M.D- Transfusion Medicine should be the appropriate nomenclature. It was agreed that a letter to this effect may be sent to MCI by the Executive Committee.
4. Dr Nidhi Mehta proposed that since there is a marked variation in the quality of conference logistics, some are lavish, others simple. Prof Neelam Marwaha suggested that this issue needs detailed discussions and may be taken up by elected Executive Committee in 2016. Prof Neelam Marwaha , President ISTM thanked all the members for support in building up the society and informed them that a report of the Founder Executive would be handed to the members at the next AGM. Meeting ended with vote of thanks by Prof R K Chaudhary, Secretary ISTM.

Minutes of AGM held on 19th Nov 2016 at TRANSMEDCON2016 venue, Bhopal

The 5th Annual General Meeting of Indian Society of Transfusion Medicine was held on the occasion of the 5th National Conference of Indian Society of Transfusion Medicine, at TRANSMEDCON2016 venue (Hotel Noor Us Sabah), Bhopal on 19 th Nov 2016 at 5.30 PM. Following executive Committee members were present in the meeting.

 

 

• The Chairperson and the President of ISTM Professor Neelam Marwaha began the proceedings by welcoming every member present.
• Minutes of 4th ISTM, Kolkata were passed unanimously
• The annual report was presented by the secretary of the society Prof Rajendra Chaudhary.
• Society report 2011 – 2016 booklet was released.
• Expression of interest was from NE region for the 6th Conference venue, but no response from NE region. Hence it was decided that next conference to be given to North Zone. Venue to be decided by next executive committee.
• The annual financial statement and balance sheet were distributed among the members and presented by the treasurer of the society Dr.Prashant Agarwal
• Dr.Ravneet Bedi the appointed returning officer for supervising elections was invited to announce the results.
• Results of the election were announced as under:

Dr. Neelam Marwaha invited the new executive committee on the dais and the newly elected President Dr. R. N. Makroo gave welcome address in which the following points were raised

1. Uniform nomenclature of the specialty i.e. Transfusion Medicine. In this context the society will approach the MCI to ensure that all medical colleges/ teaching institutions imparting post graduate training is named as MD/DNB in Transfusion Medicine
2. To increase the number of life membership of the society. In this context it was agreed in the AGM to have state chapters to increase the membership. In this regard the funds raised by the state chapters to be divided in the ratio of 60-40 among the centre and state chapters. It was also stressed to activate the zonal chapters and create directory of all life members both digital and hard copies. It was also stressed that the Zonal centres be activated and conduct CMEs and workshops. Emphasized opening of state chapter to increase life membership.
3. The membership fees for TM postgraduate students to be reduced to Rs.3000 which was agreed upon in principle.
4. Activation of various sub-groups of the specialty which are already existing (Apheresis, Immunohematology and TTI)
5. Follow up with the DCGI for amendments in Drugs and Cosmetic Act as proposed by the TRG.
6. ISTM to laid down standards/guidelines of testing of donors, patients as per NACO guidelines, to be published in peer reviewed journals
7. Liaison with National bodies i.e. National Blood Transfusion Council, DCGI and NIB
8. Liaison with International societies like ISBT, AABB and Apheresis Society.
9. Preference to be given for faculty positions at entry level to MD/DNB transfusion medicine graduates followed by MD Pathology with 2 years training in TM department in a recognised centre.
10. Student exchange programme among institutions. Dr. Manisha added students training through telemedicine services.
11. Dr. Prasun suggested focus to be given on undergraduate curriculum and through MCI.
12. Dr. Srinivas suggested to house e-voting in future as well as circulation of agendas.
13. Newsletter to be published and circulated every quarter.
14. CME programme for Clinicians on appropriate and rational use of blood. And also to conduct webinars on the same.
15. CSR activities for fund raising.
16. At least three Executive body meeting should be held/year & accountability of all the members to ensure the society meets its goals.
17. ISTM member suggested 4 groups – 1. For advocacy and liaison with national/international body, 2. Education and research, 3. Blood safety and hemovigiliance and 4. Donor motivators/recruiters
18. Promote voluntary donation to ensure safe blood supply and conduct blood donation camps and national functions like WBDD, NVBDD, under the banner of ISTM logo.
19. For the next conference venue –KGMC Lucknow and SGPGI Lucknow were the contenders. However it was decided that the decision to award the conference solely lies with the executive committee and would be decided later.
20. Decide for conflict of interest, cannot have same executive members for both ISTM and ISBTI
21. Activation of ISTM Website and to ensure its prevention from hacking.
22. Conference zones – 2018 south zone, 2019 west, 2020 east, 2021 central, 2022 north east, 2023 north
23. As suggested by Prof. R. K. Chaudhury there is an outstanding due of Rs. 10 lacs by the Transmedcon 2015. Dr. Prasun said that organizing committee at Kolkata is committed to return the money and that shall be reimbursed within 2-3 months after income tax refund is released. In the meanwhile Dr. Sudipta S Das already had declared that Transmedcon 2015 donated the entire travel, accommodation and award expenses on its own and that amount is approx. Rs. 4 lacs, so the amount which stood as outstanding due is approx Rs. 6 lacs. As per the byelaws of the society, audited statement of the conference to be provided to executive committee within one year of the date of conclusion of conference. Statement not provided till date. To provide the statement as soon as possible.
24. Dr. S.S. Das was nominated joint secretary, Dr. Anand Deshpande shall be the West Zone representative and Dr. Prasun as East Zone representative.