Open call
FIAPS 2026
Fellowship of the Indian Association of Pediatric Surgeons. Last date extended to 31 August 2026.
For IAPS members
Applications close 31 August 2026Open call
Fellowship of the Indian Association of Pediatric Surgeons. Last date extended to 31 August 2026.
Scholarship
One IAPS pediatric surgeon to attend the Pediatric Urology Workshop at Cincinnati Children’s. Apply by 31 August 2026.
Conferment
Selected awardees for IAPSCON conferment. Year against each award is the conference year.
We, the Pediatric Surgeons of India, do hereby unite to form an association titled ‘Indian Association of Pediatric Surgeons’ with a view to propound, to practice, to promote, to project, and to propogate the speciality of Pediatric Surgery. We aim to render a high quality of surgical care, to foster fraternity and familial feelings amongst the members, to pursue professional practice with ethics and empathy, and to stay away from a milieu muddled with mudane materialism.
Qualified and trainee Pediatric Surgeons are invited to become members of the IAPS. Please use the link below for details and application
If you have completed your MCh or DNB Pediatric Surgery, you can convert your Associate Membership to a full Life Membership Status.
Dear Peers of IAPS,
Warm regards to you all. I wish you good health and success. Recently, I assumed the mantle of IAPS from the illustrious Prof. Ramesh Babu, a responsibility I take with utmost diligence. With your best wishes and the guidance of the EC and our dynamic Secretary General, Prof. Vikesh Agrawal, I hope to fulfill your expectations.
Last year, as President-Elect, I led the “One IAPS-One Election” initiative, overcoming challenges with robust EC and Election Committee support. Key constitutional amendments proposed at the GBM in Rishikesh will ensure smoother future operations, and I urge all sections to adhere to them.
This year’s slogan is “India Needs Pediatric Surgeons for Surgery of Children.” To achieve this, we must strengthen ties with pediatric physicians, as initiated by Prof. Ramesh Babu. I encourage you to engage with local and national bodies and participate in clinical activities, showcasing our specialty’s impact.
We must also focus on rural outreach during Pediatric Surgery Day and Week, involving patients and referring physicians to raise awareness. Sharing educational content through media is encouraged to highlight our work.
With your blessings, we aim for meaningful contributions to IAPS’s growth.
Long Live IAPS,
Sumitra Kumar Biswas, Kolkata
Dear Members of the Indian Association of Pediatric Surgeons,
It is a profound honour and privilege to serve as the President of the Indian Association of Pediatric Surgeons.
As I begin this term, my vision is to build an IAPS that is connected, inclusive, academically vibrant and future-ready—an Association that brings together every pediatric surgeon, strengthens our collective voice, and creates meaningful opportunities for learning, collaboration and growth.
Our focus will be on strengthening membership, empowering trainees, revitalising academic initiatives, promoting our awards and fellowships, and making IAPS more accessible through effective digital communication. We will work towards wider dissemination of our guidelines and patient-education resources, stronger collaboration across chapters and sections, and a more organised and sustainable Association.
But an Association is not defined by its structure alone—it is defined by its people. Every member has a role in shaping the future of pediatric surgery in India.
Let us work together to create an IAPS that connects every pediatric surgeon, inspires the next generation, advances knowledge, encourages innovation, and remains steadfastly committed to the health and wellbeing of every child.
Together, let us strengthen our Association, elevate our profession, and shape the future of pediatric surgery.
With warm regards,
Dr. Prakash Agarwal
President, IAPS
Dear Peers of IAPS,
Warm regards to you all. I wish you good health and success. Recently, I assumed the mantle of IAPS from the illustrious Prof. Ramesh Babu, a responsibility I take with utmost diligence. With your best wishes and the guidance of the EC and our dynamic Secretary General, Prof. Vikesh Agrawal, I hope to fulfill your expectations.
Last year, as President-Elect, I led the “One IAPS-One Election” initiative, overcoming challenges with robust EC and Election Committee support. Key constitutional amendments proposed at the GBM in Rishikesh will ensure smoother future operations, and I urge all sections to adhere to them.
This year’s slogan is “India Needs Pediatric Surgeons for Surgery of Children.” To achieve this, we must strengthen ties with pediatric physicians, as initiated by Prof. Ramesh Babu. I encourage you to engage with local and national bodies and participate in clinical activities, showcasing our specialty’s impact.
We must also focus on rural outreach during Pediatric Surgery Day and Week, involving patients and referring physicians to raise awareness. Sharing educational content through media is encouraged to highlight our work.
With your blessings, we aim for meaningful contributions to IAPS’s growth.
Long Live IAPS,
Sumitra Kumar Biswas, Kolkata
Dear Members and Friends of the Indian Association of Pediatric Surgeons,
It is a privilege to serve as Secretary General of the Indian Association of Pediatric Surgeons, an Association built on the vision of our pioneers and strengthened over the years by generations of dedicated pediatric surgeons.
Pediatric surgery today stands at an exciting crossroads. Advances in minimally invasive surgery, robotics, artificial intelligence, fetal medicine, simulation and other emerging technologies are rapidly changing what is possible. At the same time, our most important challenge remains unchanged — ensuring that every child who needs surgical care has access to a trained pediatric surgeon, irrespective of geography or circumstance.
As an Association, our focus must therefore extend from academic excellence to meaningful access. We must strengthen pediatric surgical services beyond major centres, encourage effective referral networks and work towards bringing specialised care closer to children and families at the district and community level.
An equally important priority is our young pediatric surgeons and postgraduate trainees. Their energy, curiosity and willingness to question established practices are essential to the growth of our specialty. IAPS must provide them with opportunities to learn, research, collaborate, innovate and lead. Our future will depend not merely on training skilled surgeons, but on nurturing confident clinicians, researchers, teachers and leaders.
We must also continue to strengthen training and collaboration across the expanding spectrum of our specialty — including pediatric urology, minimal access surgery, fetal and neonatal surgery, oncology and other multidisciplinary areas of pediatric surgical care. Our educational initiatives must evolve with the times and communicate in ways that engage the next generation.
India has another unique opportunity. We have an enormous clinical experience, highly skilled surgeons and some of the brightest academic minds in pediatric surgery. By converting this strength into high-quality research, collaborative studies and meaningful innovation, IAPS can contribute not only to pediatric surgical care in India but also become a stronger voice for the Global South in international pediatric surgery.
Above all, IAPS must remain a community — one that connects generations, institutions and regions through a shared commitment to the surgical child.
As we move forward, let us build an Association that is academically stronger, digitally connected, inclusive of its young members, globally visible and locally relevant.
Because ultimately, everything we do must answer one simple purpose:
To ensure that every child who needs a pediatric surgeon can reach one.
#IndiaNeedsPediatricSurgeons
With warm regards,
Dr Arvind Sinha
Secretary General
Indian Association of Pediatric Surgeons
Our focus remains steadfast: fostering a bridge between the macro-level challenges in pediatric surgical healthcare worldwide while empowering local communities with specialized care at the district level.
One of our key missions is to ignite the spirit of involvement among young minds- The Yuva Pediatric Surgeons. We firmly believe in the power of the youth in shaping the future of Pediatric Surgery and Pediatric Urology. Their enthusiasm, fresh perspectives, and innovative ideas are the catalysts for progress, driving us to find tailored solutions that cater to the unique needs of each community. I strongly believe that “The ‘Surgical youthquake’ is the way forward for a positive transformation”.
Moreover, we’re dedicated to training and fostering expertise in subspecialties of pediatric surgery like Pediatric Urology, Pediatric Minimal Access Surgery, Fetal Medicine and other left out specialities like Pediatric Neurosurgery and Pediatric Plastic Surgery. We aim to create dynamic and engaging educational programs, as We plan to propagate it in the magnetic language of the NextGen.
Further, it’s becoming very imperative to enhance our country’s presence and prowess in the Global academicia. Our strength is the volume of work we have, highly intellectual minds and amazingly skillfull Pediatric Surgeons. If our strength is used appropriately to overcome our peculiar challenges, We can become the strongest voice of Global South in Pediatric Surgery.
#IndiaNeedsPediatricSurgeons
Vikesh Agrawal, Jabalpur
Presidential Address
IAPSCON 2026 — Bengaluru
A brief journey of IAPS
The journey of pediatric surgery in India has been one of vision, perseverance and commitment. From a small group of pioneers, IAPS has grown into a vibrant national association.
Our predecessors built departments, developed training programmes, created scientific platforms and trained generations of surgeons. Above all, they established a fundamental principle:
A child deserves a surgeon who understands the child—not simply a surgeon who operates on small bodies.
Every generation inherits this legacy with one responsibility — to leave it stronger than we received it.
The year that has just passed
When I took over as President at IAPSCON 2025 in Puri, I saw this position not merely as an office, but as a trust handed down by our pioneers, past Presidents and senior colleagues.
During my presidential year, my endeavour has been to take IAPS closer to its members — not only in the large centres and metropolitan cities, but to young surgeons, postgraduate students and colleagues working across the country.
A year of reaching out
It has been my privilege to represent IAPS at academic meetings, CMEs, state chapter conferences and scientific programmes across India.
But perhaps the most rewarding part of this journey has been meeting our young pediatric surgeons. Their enthusiasm, questions, aspirations and energy have reassured me that the future of pediatric surgery is in very good hands.
Beyond our annual conference
IAPS and the young surgeon
The increasing participation of young surgeons, particularly through programmes such as YUVACON 2026, has been one of the most encouraging developments of this year.
The young surgeon should not simply be an attendee.
The young surgeon must become a stakeholder.
Our responsibility as seniors is not to hold on to leadership, but to prepare the next generation to lead.
What this year has taught me
This year has taught me that the strength of IAPS does not lie in its office bearers.
It lies in its members.
I have seen young surgeons travel long distances to learn and present their work, senior surgeons generously share their knowledge, and state chapters work with extraordinary enthusiasm.
All of us are united by one common purpose:
the welfare of the surgical child.
From an Association to a Movement
I believe IAPS must now move beyond being simply a professional association.
We must become a movement for pediatric surgical care in India.
A movement for accessible and affordable pediatric surgical care, strong neonatal referral networks, early diagnosis, meaningful research, better recognition of our specialty and, above all,
equitable access to safe surgical care for every child.
Innovation Equity and Compassion
The theme of IAPSCON 2026 — Innovation. Equity. Compassion. — must become more than the theme of a conference.
Innovation must help us do things better.
Equity must ensure that better care reaches more children.
Compassion must ensure that, through all our advances, we never forget the child and family before us.
Technology can transform surgery. But only people can transform healthcare.
A message to the next generation
To my young colleagues: you are inheriting an extraordinary specialty.
Improve it. Question us. Challenge established practices. Use technology. Publish your work. Build collaborations. Learn from the world — but stay connected to your roots and to the needs of Indian children.
Our responsibility to the child
At the end of everything we discuss — AI, robotics, minimally invasive surgery, transplantation, oncology and advanced technology — there is a child.
A child asking us, without words:
“Can you help me?”
And our answer must always be:
“Yes. We will try.”
Looking forward
Let us make IAPS more connected, more inclusive, more research-oriented, more accessible to young surgeons, more innovative and, above all, more committed to the child who has no voice.
Let us remember where we came from, acknowledge what remains unfinished, and move forward together —
with innovation in our hands,
equity in our vision,
and compassion in our hearts.
Because ultimately, the greatest legacy we can leave behind is a generation of children who lived healthier lives because we were there for them.
Thank you.
Jai Hind.
Long live IAPS.
