“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” were the opening lines by Charles Dickens in his all time great novel, A Tale of Two Cities. And it couldn’t have agreed more with the times we are facing.  With the Covid-19 taking its toll on all aspects of life particularly the medical profession, the onus is upon us to keep things going as normally as possible. And particularly for the students appearing for their General Surgery Practical final exams which would be stepping stones to a bright career ahead. The goal of our programme, Dr K C Mahajan Surgical Forum always has been “Surgical teaching and mentorship” and we remain committed even in times of adversity. The last session of classes were held in Sir Ganga Ram Hospital which had seen an enthusiastic response and we continue with the same zeal. That was before the Virus had wreaked the ‘normal’ out of our personal and professional lives.

In continuation of our efforts to prepare and ingrain the clinical skills and knowledge necessary for the practical exams in General Surgery for the Final Year DNB and P G students, we are organizing the 17th "P G Surgical Forum" classes. This is in response to the multiple requests pouring all over the country to organise the classes. This time of course, it is going to be slightly different. There is going to be no physical venue although we will keep the basic structure of our classes as close to the basic idea as possible. Keeping with the state governments directive, we are going ahead with ‘virtual meetings’ that our daily lives have now become accustomed to. This time we bring in distance learning, in the same familiar way we had conducted our classes all throughout the last many years. These classes facilitates the students to brush up their clinical skills and undergo a ‘proxy’ exam before their practicals. Students who have registered and expresses their desire, will get an opportunity to present Virtual classes. Prominent Teachers from reputed medical colleges in Delhi and NCR, most of whom are or have been examiners, would be taking the classes. The faculty has been requested to take classes keeping in mind, their special interests, while retaining the popular and familiar teachers.

We would be organising weekend classes every Saturday and Sunday starting from October 10th till November 9th 2020 in a convenient time for all 6 pm -9 pm. These classes will be live on Zoom, that would allow maximum participation. We have decided to waive off Registration charges completely. Registration is free. But we would allow only 90 participants to participate for the same. So, Please resister early so as not to miss the opportunity. The link will be shared to all registered participants. Please log on to website www.pgsurgicalforum.com for latest updates and full programme.

Dr Vinod K Malik, Professor and Co-Chairman, with able support of Dr Ashish Dey, Consultant, Department of General and Laparoscopic Surgery, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi is spearheading this initiative to make it a fruitful and encouraging effort for all the attending students. This time also a sincere effort is being made to communicate this message to all the medical colleges and hospitals across India. We hope that we will be able to able to prepare the students to face the examination with greater confidence and conviction.