Dear Friends,

While I stood on top of Mount Everest on 29th May, 1965, I felt I had achieved the most difficult feat in my life. A few months later I was confined to the wheelchair as a result of a war injury, in the months that followed, I realized that the real challenge in my life was not the physical climb of Mr. Everest, but that of scaling the summit of the Mind.

The wonder facilities for spinal injury management at Stoke Mandeville Hospital inspired me to try and recreate similar facilities in India. In fact, the first project report on Indian Spinal Injuries Centre was done by Dr. J.J. Walsh, Director, Stoke Mandeville Hospital, UK.

Indian Spinal Injuries Centre has come to age and the ideal next step would be to have a network amongst all personnel and organizations working in the field of spinal injuries. This would help in the useful utilization of the limited resources in the field of management of this big challenge to the society. The launching of the Spinal Cord Society is a big step in this direction.

The developed countries have standardized protocols for the management of Spinal Cord Injury patients. Spinal Injury requires rehabilitation according to the local environment in which the patient lives. Hence, the protocols developed in the West may not be applicable as such to the developing countries. A society like the SCS could help in the development of protocols applicable to the developing countries.

I am sure that this society will soon grow to be an Asia-pacific Society so that the developing countries of the region could learn from each others experience and join hands to successfully overcome the challenge.