MINUTES OF THIRD EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING OF PPS (2015-16)
(Held on 20-11-2015 at Ramada Hotel Multan on the occasion of PPS National Conference)
· Third meeting of Executive Committee of Pakistan Psychiatric Society (Tenure 2015-16) was held on 20-11-2015 at Ramada Hotel Multan Lahore on the occasion of National Conference of Pakistan Psychiatric Society.
· Meeting was chaired by Dr Syed Mohammed Sultan, President PPS and was co-ordinated by Dr Imtiaz Dogar General Secretary PPS.
· Following members attended the meeting :
Dr Syed Mohammed Sultan, Dr Imtiaz Dogar, Dr Nasar Sayed, Dr Bashir Ahmed,
Dr Naeemullh Laghari, Ghulam Rasool, Dr Iftikhar Minhas, Dr Ajmal Kazmi, Dr Sohail Ahmed, Dr Darya Khan Laghari and Dr Inam Shabbir.
Dr Mohammed Irfan, Dr Ayesha Rashid, Dr Moin Ansari, Dr Niaz Maqsood and Dr Manohar Lal sent the regrets for not attending the meeting.
Other absentees were Dr Mazhar Malik, Dr Hamid Rashid Khawaja, Dr RizwanTaj and Dr Khalid Mehmood
· Meeting started with recitation of verses from Holy Quran by Dr Ajmal Kazmi.
· Minutes of last Executive committee meeting were read by General Secretary and got approved by the Executive committee.
· Participants of the meeting noted with concern that some members are persistently absent from executive committee meetings and they should be reminded that constitution allows removal of such members from their posts if they are found absent for three consecutive meetings. Moreover the regrets for not attending the meeting should be communicated to the General Secretary by email.
· It was conveyed by Dr Bashir Ahmed that Dr Mohammad Irfan (chapter chief KPK) and some other PPS members of KPK are concerned that their province is not properly represented in the scientific sessions of National Conference at Multan. Dr Naeemullah Laghari, chairman organizing committee denied this impression and clarified the situation by an offer to modify the scientific program accordingly. The members agreed that priority should be given to involve the executive committee members of PPS in Scientific programs of conferences, wherever possible.
· Fateha was offered for the departed soul of Dr Naveed Irfan (Late) and for those PPS members who left us for eternal abode. It was decide that a letter of condolence would be sent by General Secretary PPS to bereaved family of Dr Naveed Irfan.
· It was informed to all members that letters have been written by President PPS, Prof Mohammed Sultan, to Private Medical colleges for recruitment of qualified psychiatrists on vacant posts of faculty members in their colleges.
· Dr Nasar Sayed Khan, President elect PPS, was requested to facilitate the collaboration of PPS with International organizations of Psychiatrists. Dr Nasar promised to work for better co-ordination of PPS with Royal College of Psychiatrists and with Association of British Psychiatrist of Pakistani origin.
· It was informed to participants that guidelines for treatment of Schizophrenia are being prepared by Prof Syed Sultan. Dr Nasar Sayed Khan suggested that guidelines for treatment of common psychiatric illnesses should be prepared in local perspective by different teaching Institutes.
· It was informed to members that constitutional amendments regarding eligibility of Associate membership of PPS are now revised and it was decided all those doctors having training in psychiatry but have not passed postgraduate exams, can become Associate members.
The matter of Electronic balloting for future PPS elections was also discussed and different issues were raised. It was then suggested that the matter would be discussed in General body meeting for making constitutional amendment in this regard.
· It was informed by President—Prof Syed Mohammad Sultan(who is also president of SAARC Psychiatric Federation) that SAARC Psychiatrists Conference would be held from 4th –6th March 2016 at Hotel Serena Islamabad. Dr Sultan, who is chairman organizing committee, emphasized that all psychiatrists should participate in this conference. He mentioned that he is already working with ministry of foreign affairs & ministry of Interior to facilitate the foreign delegates for timely issuance of visa and for required security clearance. He also mentioned that Prof Mowaddat Rana would be the chairman Scientific Committee for this conference.
· It was informed to all participants that next International Conference of PPS would be held in Quetta in November 2016. Prof Ghulam Rasool will be the chairman organizing committee. The venue of the next National conference of PPS would be decided in next Exec. committee meeting after getting the written requests from the willing hosts.
· Dr Imtiaz Dogar, Gen Secretary PPS & Editor JPPS, informed that abstract book of International conference of PPS held in Karachi in Dec 2014, is now published.
· Membership application of Dr Sawera Mansoor of Rawalpindi/Islamabad region was approved by the committee. Application for Associate membership of Dr Naeem (Gujranwala) was also approved. His name would be included in the new category for Associate membership. It was also emphasized that efforts should be made by all to get new memberships for PPS.
· Dr Naeemullah Laghari, on behalf of Psychiatrists of Multan & organizing committee of the conference, thanked the executive committee for allowing and participating in the National conference at Multan. Dr Syed Mohammed Sultan appreciated the efforts of Dr Naeemullah Laghari and his team and on behalf of executive committee, felt pride to be a part of this conference.
· Financial report was presented by Treasurer—Dr Bashir Ahmed. He mentioned that a record amount of around Rs.1.3 million is now present in the account of PPS. He also mentioned that Prof Sultan donated Rs 200000/- (instead of required amount of Rs 100000/-) from his Symposium held at Peshawar, this year. The committee members applauded this gesture by Prof Syed Mohammed Sultan. Donation of Rs 100000/- is yet to be deposited by Prof Mazhar Malik who organized a symposium on Depression this year, the committee decided that a reminder would be sent to him in this regard.
· Email by Prof Haroon was discussed in the meeting regarding audit of the conferences collection & expenditure. The committee members agreed that auditors would be hired for the audit of PPS account and organizers of the conferences should also get their account audited by professional auditors. It was also decided that President & General Secretary PPS would discuss the issues raised in the email with Dr Raza-ur-Rehman, specially in context with amount generated by his conference held in Karachi, last year
· The committee members agreed that efforts would be made to get a NTN number for PPS—to deal with issues related to income tax payment or exemption.
· It was suggested by Dr Syed Mohammed Sultan & discussed in meeting that donation amount for PPS by conference organizers would be enhanced as follows :
Organizers of International conference of PPS would donate Rs 10 Lacs and organizer of National conference of PPS would donate Rs 05 Lacs to PPS account. Similarly organizer of international symposium (one day program) in collaboration with PPS would donate Rs 03 Lacs and organizer of National Symposium (one day program) in collaboration with PPS would be required to donate Rs 02 Lacs to PPS funds. It was decided that this matter would be further discussed in General body meeting and a decision would be taken.
· It was also decided that definite rules would be made by President, General Secretary and treasurer of PPS for collection and expenditure of PPS funds.
· Dr Sohail Ahmed requested Prof Imtiaz Dogar to take over the maintenance of PPS website. Dr Sohail also assured that he would continue to work for preparation & uploading of data on website and would also support him in other issues related to website. Dr Imtiaz Dogar agreed to this suggestion.
· Prof Jamil Hussein’s letter to General Secretary PPS was discussed and members did not agree to the suggestion of permanent headquarter and decided that headquarter would be rotated as per present policy of PPS. It was decided that General Secretary would respond to Prof Jamil regarding his letter.
· President & General Secretary PPS thanked to all executive committee members for their active participation in the meeting and the meeting ended in a pleasant atmosphere.