“National Symposium on Lead Awareness”
Brief Report
A two day “National Symposium on Lead Awareness” was organized by the Department of Biochemistry, King George’s Medical University, Lucknow, on October 5-6, 2013, in association with the Biochemistry Foundation and National Referral Centre for Lead Projects in India. The symposium was inaugurated by Dr. M.K.J. Siddiqui, Director, UPCST and was presided over by Prof. Raj Mehrotra, Acting Vice Chancellor, KGMU. Prof. Thuppil Venkatesh, Emeritus Professor, St. Johns Medical College, Bangalore, was the Guest of Honor on the occasion. Prof. Abbas Ali Mahdi, Head, Department of Biochemistry, KGMU, Lucknow and Dr. M. Kaleem Ahmad, Assistant Professor, were the Organizing Secretary and Joint Organizing Secretary, respectively, of the Symposium. Apart from large number of young clinicians, research scholars and students the conference was also attended by Prof. N. Shashidhara from Bangalore, Dr. Praveen Sharma, AIIMS Jodhpur, Dr. S. Subramaniam from Chennai, Mr. Abhishek from Bengaluru , Ms. Shivani Dharia, Mumbai, Dr. Rajeev Singh Kushwaha and Ms. Shiwani Sailwal from Dehra Doon.
The two day programme was basically organized to create awareness in young doctors, scientists and students about lead toxicity. On the first day of the symposium, Dr. S.J.S. Flora from Defence Research and Development Establishment, Gwalior, spoke on “Chelation and treatment of Lead Toxicity”. Prof. Sudhir Mehrotra from Lucknow University gave his talk on “Toxic effect of lead on health and environment”. Prof. Abbas Ali Mahdi spoke on the facilities available at KGMU for the assessment of lead and also presented his work on lead toxicity. Two students working under Prof. Mahdi, Mr. Ishan Vohra (MBBS student) and Mr. Jamal Akhtar (a Ph.D. student) also presented their work.
The highlight of the second day of the Symposium was the student awareness programme conducted in the historic Brown Hall of KGMU and Prof. Thuppil Venkatesh was the key speaker. He educated the young students about lead and its adverse effect on human health. The function was attended by a large number of students of various schools of Lucknow and undergraduate medical students of KGMU. The main aim of the program was to educate and make aware the young minds about the adverse effects of lead. Speaking on the occasion the Organising Secretary of the Symposium Prof. Abbas Ali Mahdi, Head, Department of Biochemistry, KGMU, said that the students will be our ambassadors to the society to spread the message regarding lead and its adverse effects on human health. Prof. S.N. Shakhwar, Chief Medical Superintendent KGMU was the Chief Guest and Prof. A.K. Verma, Head, Department of Forensic Medicine also spoke on the occasion. At the end of the function a question and answer session was also held.
