Seasons Greetings and wish you all a happy and healthy 2021!

I hope this message finds you and your families safe and healthy amidst this pandemic. I’m also hoping that at some point during this year we will be able to meet in person.

Considering the multiple uncertainties of the pandemic, the Executive Committee decided in August 2020 to organize the 67th IACTSCON Conference of IACTS on a virtual platform. Based on this decision, we have scheduled the 67th Annual Conference from 26th to 28th February, 2021 with Dr. C.S. Hiremath as the Organizing Secretary and Dr. Krishna Iyer, our Senior Vice President, as the Chairman of the Scientific Committee.

This meeting will provide an excellent opportunity for consultants, surgical residents and others to present the latest developments in our field through interactive sessions, posters, workshops and case reports. Despite the constraints of not meeting in person, I hope everyone actively contributes to the success of this virtual conference.

We must and should defer to those frontline health workers- doctors, nurses, lab technicians- who are at the forefront of this struggle. In these times where WhatsApp forwards are the new facts, we must ensure that we ourselves are not contributing to misinformation and false panic.

Though there were no real-time CMEs in the past year, IACTS quickly adapted to the ‘new normal’ and strived to continue the teaching programme through our “Masterclass Series” virtually. The faculty included national and international experts in every specialty of Cardiovascular and Thoracic surgery. This series was well received across the globe, which was evident with participants spanning across different countries. No stone was left unturned to ensure that everyone was able to access this knowledge and contribute to its success. Our Secretary worked 24x7 to maintain the standard of this Masterclass Series and kept the IACTS flag flying high.

The Indian Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, under the leadership of Dr. O.P Yadava, has raised the bar of our journal; evident by the contributions of eminent faculty across the globe. As you are aware, our Journal is now PubMed indexed , indeed a prestigious moment for all of us. I would request all members to contribute articles to the journal, so that we can take it to greater heights, and shine the spotlight on all the pathbreaking work that you are doing.

For the past year, we have been working on a digital Indian Cardiac Surgery Database to meet the International Standard; and a database committee was formed to monitor the progress. This will be launched during the 67th IACTSCON and will collect patient data from all centers, paving way for future research and innovations.

While we faced some unprecedented times, I’m proud to share that we were able to continue to ensure IACTS remained active and was able to offer activities and programmes that remained beneficial to its members. The taskforce of the Executive Committee came together to propose interim recommendations for clinical practice during this pandemic. The Academic Committee met and discussed various ways and means improving the training program, and to encourage more young professionals to join the specialty. We still have a long way to go, but together as a community, we can continue to take our specialty forward into the next decade.

More details will continue to be updated on our Association’s official website, so please keep checking back. I look forward to seeing you all at this virtual meeting!

Dr. V. V. Bashi
President

Dear Members,
I hope you and your dear ones well and safe.

I would like to notify two important developments in these rather unusual circumstances, which may be of interest and help to you in the clinical setting.

As our nation continues to grapple with the escalating situation of COVID-19 and hopes of the society stay pinned up to our fraternity on an unprecedented scale, the expectations and stakes are high-as is always the case in cardiothoracic surgery.

Yet, what has changed this time is the rapid development of this pandemic and the inflection it continues to show before man can trace or predict it's course. Data and information have become vital in making decisions-more so in the operating room and intensive care where the atmosphere to perform flawlessly has the added burden of determining the COVID-status of the patient every step along the way.

By an initiative of the Executive Committee, the IACTS COVID-19 Task Force was formed under the leadership of President Dr. Bashi V. Velayudhan. Members of this task-force included Drs. K.S Iyer, Z.S Meharwal, O.P Yadava & C.S Hiremath.

Among its mandate in helping mitigate through the present scenario and re-establish practise in the "new setting" was to establish a stare decisis for units across the country to adopt and incorporate. The official IACTS Guidelines were authored and have now been published through a stringent peer-review process in the IJTC with the primary intent of helping CTVS units across the country deal with clinical enigma and challenges that may be associated with COVID-19 with more clarity and evidence. This document is intended to serve as a guide or a template for units to modify and use suitably in exercising clinical care of patients with cardiovascular, vascular and thoracic disease.

Needless to say, you will find that the document is comprehensive and the authors have tried to cover all aspects of cardiothoracic surgery that have been convoluted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Given the novelty of this disease across geography, the rate of reporting and information published hitherto has been found to be at an all-time high and with substantial variance. This has made it difficult to assess and gauge the accuracy and efficacy of the information we see and read.

An official IACTS portal detailing the consensus on various issues, again from credible sources has been published on the website along with a tab on the main-page dedicated for issues related to COVID-19. Every attempt has been made to ensure that the resources published are open source and free to access. Please note that it is being updated on a daily basis with information that is relevant, accurate, up-to-date and authentic.

Do feel free to use this facility to maximum benefit and kindly share them with colleagues and peers who might find it useful.

The link to the IACTS COVID-19 portal is https://iacts.org/content/covid-19

Warm regards,
Dr. C.S Hiremath
Secretary
Indian Association of Cardiovascular-Thoracic Surgeons