HISTORY OF CRS
The evolution of CRS started in 1990. The late Dr.Srinivasan, the renowned thoracic surgeon who was possibly the first cardiothoracic surgeon in this region started a monthly assembly of handful of cardiothoracic surgeons and only few chest physicians. They met on the last Saturday afternoon of every month and discussed cases. There was a break in 1995 for three months due the personal inconveniences of the secretary. The secretary of the society at that point of time was Dr.Jayakrishnan an MD in Pulmonology and Professor and head of the department in PSG IMS.
The baton was passed on to Dr.Jaymohan Unnithan who revived the organization and conducted the meeting in various hotels once in two months with sponsorship from pharma companies. The meeting was attended by Pulmonologists, Cardiothoracic surgeons and other specialities with guest lectures at every meeting. In the year 2000 the club was converted to Coimbatore chest club with initiative from Dr.T.Mohan Kumar and Dr.S.Nagarajan took over as convener. Since then the chest club was exclusively meant for Pulmonologists and any others who were interested to attend this. In 2003 the national Pulmonlogy conference NAPCON was held under the leadership of Dr. T. Mohan Kumar as secretary and Dr. I. Moinuddin as the chairman. This brought laurels to the chest club and chest club got highlighted for the first time in it’s history. Since then Club has conducted many events such as the annual conference of Academy of Pulmonary Medicine and Critical Care, ’Respicon 2009’, successfully under the leadership of Dr.Jaymohan Unnithan and Dr.T.Mohan Kumar. 2011 saw another mid Respicon under the same leadership. The club has supported Dr.V.R.Pattabhi Raman to conduct TIPS 2009 and 2010. This was another milestone for Coimbatore Pulmonologists making their mark as leaders of Interventional Pulmonology in the country.
In 2011 the club converted in to a registered body under the banner of ‘Coimbatore Respiratory Society’ to involve more pulmonologists from other parts of Tamil Nadu and India. This function inaugurates the coming together of Pulmonologists to provide a platform for respiratory medicine.
Many members of our organization have made a niche for themselves in the national as well as international scenario. Dr.T.Mohan Kumar has been the past president of Indian Chest Society and the president elect of Academy of Pulmonary Medicine and Critical Care. Dr. Pattabhiraman and his team with focus on interventional pulmonology and Dr.K.Srikanth in clinical research as bright examples of such achievers. Dr. V. Nandagopal and Dr.JayamohanUnnithan are the first Indians to have qualified as ERS recognized spirometry trainers. Dr.S.Keerthivasan is the nodal officer for the MDR TB programme in Coimbatore.