Greetings to all readers!

A silent revolution is sweeping the globe. Be it demands for regime change in the Middle East or nature’s fury in the far east. My heart goes out to the victims of the devastating Tsunami and earthquake in Japan. I wish all our colleagues in Japan and their family courage during these trying times.

In our own backyard, the winds of change are blowing. Medical education in India seems to be undergoing a major transformation. Whether it is in the right direction or not, only time will tell. The presence of eminent academicians at the helm does make a difference in policy making. The Information from the media suggests a popular demand for social health care.

Family and community medicine, with stress on preventive health, has been a long felt need for medical care in India. The geographic vastness of our country has created inequity in health delivery. There is also a necessity to balance urban and rural health care.

On the one hand we have lifestyle diseases that afflict the urban population, with effects of mechanization and pollution thrown in for good measure. The rural landscape still remains affected by poor maternal and child health. Balancing health policy to be inclusive is therefore a humungous challenge.

We need to examine where we stand as maxillofacial surgeons. All the changes in health education and implementation must not leave us on the wayside. Our curriculum needs major revamping with earnest efforts from our statutory body. Postgraduate selection and training years need to be carefully structured. The long-standing debate of dual qualification has once again come to the fore. We have arguments in favor and against this training pattern. However, much depends on the position taken by the Medical Council in facilitating a combined programme for maxillofacial Surgeons.

In the meantime quality healthcare in head and neck surgery training has to improve both qualitatively and quantitatively. The need of the hour is to spend some thoughts on curriculum building. Will our statutory body sit up and take notice? We are in an unenviable position of being ignored both by the medical and dental council. The responsibility therefore lies with our association. Let us, under the leadership of the AOMSI, consolidate the future of maxillofacial surgery—lest the winds of change blow past us without causing even a flutter.