20/12/11
 
Dear Friends,
 
I am back from the Egypt tour and I would like to share with you some of the interesting observations of the Egypt Orthopedic Associations's International Conference:
 
1.  The inauguration of the program was a very low key affair.  Only 3 persons on the dais,the President,Secretary and Treasurer of the EOA.  The program was over in half an hour and there was no cultural programs or dinner after the event.
2.  In contrast, the valedictory function was very grand,with a grand buffet and cultural programs.  It was done late in the evening at 9 pm and it was open for all EOA members and their families.
3.  Barring the first day,dinner was arranged on all the days of the conference. 
4.  The academic presentations were of very high standards spread over 5 halls.
5.  I found the organisers and the people of Egypt overall to be very respectful towards the guests and went out of their way to make us comfortable.  I lost my conference bag and all the coupons.  No questions asked.  They replaced the bag and all the coupons immediately and did not raise a single question.
6.  Whenever some thing was asked,they never enquired why but went about their job of attending to our queries. 
7.  They gave us the certificates both of the faculty and participation during the registration itself.
8.  There were no mometoes given to the speaker or the chairpersons after the talks.
9.  Every day lunch was served with guests seated on round tables.  There were no buffets.  It was remarkable to see the hotel staff serving lunch and clearingf the tables with amazing spped for over 1,500 delegates.  Even the last day dinner was served on tables and no buffets.  There was no wastage of food at all.
10.  The Presidential dinner on 14th was not in a hotel but in a cruise over the river Nile.  It was a refereshing change. 
12.  The scientific sessions were almost on time with no timers and monitoring.
 
Regarding my talks:
 
I and Dr Ashok Johari were the only 2 Indian speakers and I had the maximum number of talks (4) among 60 International guest speakers.
My talk on Lumbar Disc Surgeries - past, present and future evoked very good response with many people asking for my slides.
My presentation on Yoga therapy was hailed as the highlight of the conference and Prof Essam Ahl Abassy prophesised that my concept would catch the imagination of the world and would be accepted by everyone.  It was very satisfying to hear this kind of comments in a Muslim country.  They were not judgemental but were quick to lap up new ideas and thoughts without any from of prejudice and in fact were very appreciative for thinking and being different instead of being run of the mill type.  They opined that time has come to veer ourselves away from the vice like grip of the westerners and present to the world few eastern genius ideas.  After one of the talks on Cervical Disc Arthroplasy by a French Surgeon,when asked what is the need to do such a expensive surgery for a innocuous looking single level disc lesion on the x-ray when the same can be managed by a simple yoga technique that was cheap and effective,I found he was groping for answers and felt that we could now turn the tables on certain aggressive concepts.  With 10 International Publications in peer reviewed,indexed journals with high impact factor and a PhD degree to boot, I could present my views with lots of credibitlity with majority in the house agreeing. 
So thus ended a highly successful representation of mine in EOA and had the satisfaction of showcasing Indian virtues in an alien land to a knowledgeable audience.  Here are some of the photos of the event.
 
Thanks and regards,
 
John Ebnezar