Some Suggestions.........

I wish to bring a few issues to the attention of our fellow professionals for their consideration and further action through our professional body (of IPS) as may be deemed fit. The first three issues are about functional aspects of our Indian Psychiatric Society , which I consider have acquired unhealthy flavour; and, the fourth issue is about a policy that should actively and urgently be pursued by IPS. (1) The first issue is a malady called " Multiple Dissociative Identities. " Each of us (members of our IPS) have three independent identities as member of State-IPS, Zonal-IPS, and Central-IPS, after having filed separate forms and making separate payments. Why not establish a system of comprehensive membership, wherein through a single form and payment a professional automatically becomes an IPS member at all three levels? The single, possibly, larger subscription can be divided thus: 20% to Center, 30% to Zone, and 50% to State. Of course, this method requires detailed record-keeping, and hopefully, such a system will also enhance an attitude of integrated cohesion! (2) The second issue is a malady called " Compulsive Membership Directory. " Each of us has been repeatedly filling up forms of personal details (name, address, etc.) for the membership-directories that are being published each year with compulsive regularity by Central, Zonal, and perhaps, State IPS. Surely, this waste of money and labour is avoidable, irrespective of whose money or labour it is. Why cannot there be One Comprehensive Directory? Additions, deletions, and modifications that necessarily occur each year can be published as a supplement (of few pages) to the main-directory. (3) The third issue is a vulnerability that has in the past, and can in future, lead to " Financial complexes and accounting fugues. " Those of us who have been Office-bearers of IPS are aware of two serious needs: quality of records-keeping, and maintenance of their continuity. These needs require three things: (i) A " permanent " office room, or similar long-term facility. (ii) A permanent, even if part-time, secretarial staff. (iii) Corpus funds to maintain these two facilities. The corpus funds can be raised from the annual conferences. For example, our IPS bodies at all three levels must have till now organised and conducted more than 200 annual conferences. In this context, we need to ask ourselves four questions: (I) With respect to each conference, was there any planned effort to save …