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This Association was formed under the able leadership of “Teacher of Teachers”- Dr. B. N. Dutta. The first meeting included a variety of pathologists, wherein Dr. Dutta stressed the importance of becoming good pathologists.

“There are two types of pathologists- a good Pathologist and a consistent Pathologist. A good pathologist strives to make a correct diagnosis, upholding ethics and patient’s benefit, while a consistent pathologist is one whose report is consistent with the clinician’s diagnosis”- he said.

With that aim in mind, the Association was formed to educate and groom all pathologists to become good pathologists and share the experiences that one faces in private practice, be it a stand- alone lab or working in a private hospital. The scope was further widened by adding the sister subject of Microbiology and its fraternity.

Since its inception, the Association has been holding regular meetings, initially discussing problem cases, rate-list uniformity, Clinical Establishment Act and its implications, work safety in laboratories et al. To make the meetings more interesting and regular, they were scheduled at quarterly intervals with a renewed dash of inspiring lectures and CME credit points.

The President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer and In-Charge Academics have been working tirelessly to make each event better than the last. Meetings that infuse fellowship, be it dance sessions or song performances have been mindfully incorporated by the Office-bearers from time to time.

 With the increasing number of members and young Pathologists and Microbiologists joining the Association, we wish to see more participation and education to be flowing from these bright minds, enlightening the whole Association.

The biggest advantage of this united group is that you can now have multiple “Phone a friend” who will go out of the way to help you- be it a difficult case, seeking job opportunities, administration or operational challenges, etc- most of the members are willing to guide and help other members without any judgement, prejudice or any conditionality.

Times ahead are going to be challenging as technology is evolving at a very fast pace. Like most other jobs, the field of medicine like we see today will become redundant or relegated to a very small role. Automation has already started to limit the role of a Pathologist. In advanced Centres, typing or classifying tumours has now a small bearing as compared to Next Generation Sequencing and molecular diagnostics. Since tumour therapy is now at genetic level, genetic makeup of the tumour cell takes the forefront for management and not the tumour type or the tissue type of origin of tumour. The anticipated timeline for the role of a pathologist to be deputed from the basement (abode of many pathologists) to a corner of the basement is less than ten years.

The skillset to survive such a change, which is going to happen in all professions as well, is development of personality of a good pathologist, make friends with colleagues (seniors and juniors alike- since all of them are at least good at  some one thing which is better than what you are good at), empathy and care for the patient, interaction with the patients so that they feel a personalized care and not being a part of the assembly-line of testing.

Most of all, spend time with your family and loved ones, enjoy with friends and take good care of yourself too.

Wishing you all, a life of joy and good health!

– Dr. Prashant Jain