History of IADVL Kerala

The "South-Western branch of IADV", comprising Kerala State and the South Canara district of Karnataka, was formed in January 1971 at the Annual General Body meeting of the parent body, IADV (All India), held at Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore. This was the first State Branch formed by a resolution passed by the All India General Body.

The inauguration of the South-Western Branch was celebrated on 29 May 1971 at Medical College, Trivandrum, in the presence of His Excellency V. Viswanathan, the Governor of Kerala.

Dr. T. Gopinathan was the Founder-President of the South-Western Branch, (Late) Dr. C. Gangadharan the Vice President, (Late) Dr. B. K. H. Nair the Hon. General Secretary, Dr. P. Sugathan the Hon. Joint Secretary and Dr. V. Krishnan Nair the Treasurer. In subsequent years the members from the South Canara district of Karnataka joined their parent body, the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu (KT) Branch.

Although the Kerala State branch of IADV became a separate entity in 1971, even before that the dermatologists and venereologists of Kerala used to meet at regular intervals in various cities of the state for scientific sessions in an informal way, not under the banner of IADV.

Hosting national conferences

Since 1974 we have hosted the National Conference of IADVL on three occasions. IADV earlier held combined meetings with the Association of Physicians of India (API); during the API conference at Patna in 1974 it was decided to hold separate IADVL meetings at a different venue. Thus in 1975, for the first time, the National Conference was held under the banner of IADVL at Trivandrum. The President of IADVL was (late) Dr. C. Sobhanadri (Andhra Pradesh) and the President-elect (late) Dr. B. M. Ambady (Kerala). The late Dr. C. Gangadharan and Dr. B. K. H. Nair were the organising secretary and scientific committee chairman of that memorable conference, and Dr. T. Gopinathan chaired the souvenir committee.

Kerala organised the national conference again at Cochin in 1985, led by Dr. Soman Peter (Organising Secretary) and Dr. P. Ramachandran Nair (Chairman, Organising Committee). In 2002, under the leadership of Dr. Kuriyipe (Chairman, Organising Committee), the National Conference was again held in Cochin, with Dr. P. V. Mathew as Organising Secretary and Dr. M. G. Subramaniam as Treasurer.