Paediatric neurosurgery in India

In a vast country like India, with children constituting 40% of a total pop ulation of 900 million people, the need and scope for paediatric neurosurge ry is enormous. Initial organised attempts to focus attention on the need f or paediatric neurosurgery as a subspecialty were made in 1983 and 1987, re spectively, by holding symposia on infections and rumours in children. Howe ver, when the Annual Conference of ISPN was held in Bombay this served as a great impetus to the development of paediatric neurosurgery as a subspecia lty in this country. It led to the formation of the Indian Society for Paed iatric Neurosurgery in the following year, which now has 90 neurosurgeons i n full membership. It has held annual meetings ever since its inception and has held CME programmes with international faculty in 1992, 1994, 1996, 19 97 and 1998. Half a dozen neurosurgeons have already devoted themselves mai nly to the practice of paediatric neurosurgery. Paediatric neurosurgery is best developed in a large multi-disciplinary paediatric institute. We have been able to establish a neurosurgical service at Jerbai Wadia Hospital for Children, a paediatric institute of repute in Mumbai, and hope to have tra ining programmes and fellowships in the near future for both general and pa ediatric neurosurgeons, as they will have to continue treating cases of spi na bifida and hydrocephalus for several years to come.