Presidential Address by Dr. Gurdeep Singh

Gurdeep Singh

Born in a small town of Maharashtra, educated in Mumbai, practicing radiology in Punjab, and standing in front of you all in Chennai as the 78th President of Indian Radiological and Imaging Association (IRIA), I feel like a perfect example of Unity in Diversity of this greatest county on earth called INDIA.

I thank each one of you from the core of my heart for electing me as your president, and I accept it with full humility and responsibility. This is not just an individual achievement but also a team effort. President Harry Truman once said: “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” I promise you all that my team and I will work tirelessly and selflessly to the best of our abilities for the welfare of each and every member of this great association.

IRIA, which started in 1931 with 24 members, is about 27,000 members strong today and is on its way to becoming one of the biggest associations of radiologists in the world.

“With numbers come strength, and with strength comes responsibility.”

We have a responsibility to reach out and be useful to each and every member and to make every member proud of this association. As the membership grows, diverse thoughts are bound to create some discontent and disagreement on some issue. I will strive to ensure greater unity among members for sustainable progress and excellence.

Looking ahead, my vision for the future is to strengthen the core values of IRIA: education, innovation, and collaboration. Together we will work toward greater unity inclusivity and excellence within IRIA, ensuring that our association thrives and our contributions to the medical fields are recognized and valued.

I propose to increase our strength by increasing the scope of corresponding members. The provision for the corresponding member already exists in our constitution; however, like all major international associations, we plan to extend this membership to all foreign medical graduates of radiology including residents and radiology consultants so that they can become our corresponding members and have access to all scientific programs run by IRIA/Indian College of Radiology and imaging (ICRI), online as well as offline. This will greatly help in knowledge sharing, providing access to our world class teaching program to the world, and will cement the position of IRIA as a leading teaching association in the world and giving our teachers and faculty an international platform.

More than 80% of radiologists are directly or indirectly affected by the PC and PNDT law. To help our members, I propose to establishment of a 24-hour PC and PNDT hotline. Anyone can access this number at any time of the day. You can send an SOS for help or request for any other information related to PC and PNDT, which will be evaluated by the office and prompt help will be given to the member ASAP.

I also propose to have a permanent PC and PNDT committee of experts, which will be constituted with permission of the GBM and will have a tenure of 5 years so that there is continuity in leadership and thought process and helps in better manpower management from IRIA for the benefit of everyone. I plan to ensure the best of brains of IRIA with in-depth knowledge and interest in the PC and PNDT Act to help the office take instant, right and just decisions on this act. Any complain/query received on helpline number will be forwarded to this committee and will be followed up to its logical conclusion.

Artificial intelligence is considered the next best thing to happen to radiology. While the debate over whether it a bane or a boon will continue, the IRIA will be very proactive in teaching this modality to our member and prepare them for the future. We plan to start dedicated teaching and fellowship program in artificial intelligence for our members in the near future.

Financial literacy: We radiologists are one of the highest earning professionals in India, but sadly most of our investments are based on heresy and advice of our friends and relatives. I plan to introduce at least one talk on financial planning and literacy in all major teaching programs of IRIA and ICRI.

There is a vast scope for entrepreneurship in radiology and we can grow as a team, if we pool our resources and work toward a common goal of making radiology one of the best branches of medicine with innovative ideas, collective efforts, and sincere and honest approach.

All the major pillars of IRIA, such as ICRI, IJRI, Text Book of Clinical Radiology, Research and Education Wing, Shakti, Samrakshan, Preventive Radiology Programs, as well as all major initiatives like Certificate course in fetal radiology and genetics (CCRFG), Masters in clinical radiology (MICR), subspecialty Fellowship of ICRI, and all the initiatives launched by previous Presidents - Normograms according to Indian standards, and Drive to Enhance Quality and Safety in Imaging, will get full support and encouragements from my team to help achieve our goal of making IRIA the best in the world of radiology. Under the outreach program, we had a very healthy interaction with radiologists in Bhutan last year, and this year we plan to visit Sri Lanka and have a teaching program with Sri Lankan radiologists.

Long Live IRIA.

Thank you!

Publication History

Article published online:
27 April 2025