"A very warm welcome from the president’s desk at the fag end of 2024 hoping that the next year will bring you happiness and prosperity."

Haematology is a fast-evolving science which is progressing by leaps and bounds from its beginning in the arena of cellular morphology to an all-encompassing science involving biochemistry, molecular biology, genetics and so on. The incorporation of these knowledge areas into haematology have brought to us new understanding of the nature of diseases bringing new methods of treatment of haematological conditions which include immunotherapy, cellular therapy like stem cell transplantation, CAR T cell therapy and genetic manipulation like gene therapy and gene editing etc. It is the duty and responsibility of the society to bring these advancements to all the members of the society so that the people of the country may ultimately benefit from it.

India is a diverse country and education has not spread uniformly throughout the length and breadth of the countryof the . Not very long ago, haematology departments were restricted to large metro cities only. As a result, the understanding of haematology as a science was also not available uniformly all over the country. The opening up many medical colleges in tier two cities and outside led to many institutions not having any proper haematology departments or haematologists although they were involved in the training of students. So it is the duty of ISHBT to take the knowledge of haematology to these areas where there is a dearth of knowledge about haematology.

The medical fraternity usually come from big cities and are educated in large metros. Nurtured as they are in metro areas, they are often not exposed to the underprivileged who usually live outside the gambit of big cities. Through the social outreach programme of ISHBT, such colleagues can be exposed to the problems of these underprivileged people. They can be sensitized to think of preventive measures inin this milieau tackling haematological diseases like anaemia.

Last of all, I take this opportunity to thank all members of ISHBT who have elected me as Executive member of ISHBT for two years and then as President. I also take this opportunity to invite active suggestions and ideas for improvement in the functioning of ISHBT from all members.