Dear Colleagues,

It is an honour and great privilege to address you as President of the Asia Pacific Hernia Society (APHS). This region is home to more than half of the World populace and is remarkable for its diversity in terms of nationalities, race, creed and ethnicities. With the formation of the Asia Pacific Hernia Society, a glaring lacuna has been plugged in the World of Hernia, with the prior existence of the American Hernia Society and European Hernia Society.

Hernia repair is one of the most commonly performed surgical procedures by a practising surgeon today. A hernia can present at different ages in different sites at varying stages. Indeed, a surgeon practising hernia repairs has to necessarily possess a wide array of surgical repertoire and technique. It is said that there are as many hernia repairs as there are Surgeons. The gold standard in hernia repairs is not on the horizon yet. The numerous hernia repairs and techniques available can be bewildering and confusing to the busy practitioners. Peer review and brain storming amongst colleagues is one of the ways to attempt to make sense of the numerous surgical techniques available today for hernia repair.

There are numerous centres in the Asia Pacific region providing excellent specialised services in the field of hernia repair. Many of our centers need to maintain and update their databases to document their hernia repairs. Also, maintaining databases in the region shall aid in evaluation of different hernia repairs, prosthetics and fixation devices. Synergy with medical industry will get a further boost once such mechanisms are in place.

The global balance appears to be tilting towards Asia especially with the emergence of the economic powerhouses viz China and India. It is not surprising; therefore, that Medical industry is shifting focus to the Asian continent which is poised for a big leap in the near future. Industry needs to recognize that some requirements in this region are unique and special and ought to position themselves to provide for those requirements. On the flip side, for industry, this region is a high volume market that can provide good returns for a good product that is reasonably positioned. Needless to say, progress is only possible when synergy, cooperation and goodwill exist between medical industry and the Surgical fraternity.

The first congress of the Asia Pacific Hernia Society (APHS) was held at Kuala Lumpur in September 2005. The event provided an excellent start to the academic programmes of APHS and was greatly appreciated by all. The second congress of APHS is scheduled for New Delhi between 5-8 October 2006 and tremendous response and enthusiasm has been generated. Apart from subsidised registration fees for APHS congresses and a special discounted rate for Hernia Journal, all our members can directly benefit from the experience and expertise at the American Hernia Society (AHS) and European Hernia Society (EHS-Grepa) I can foresee that APHS congresses shall come to be renowned not only for rich academic content but also for great camaraderie and lively social events!

With warm regards

Dr. Pradeep Chowbey
President - Asia Pacific Hernia Society

Chairman
Minimal Access & Bariatric Surgery Centre
Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi (India)