I can only talk about the period 1983 till 2026.

I came back from England in 1983 and started practice in Rheumatology in Bangalore. I had not heard of IRA till 1988.There were hardly 80 members in IRA.

Most of them practiced in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai. Very few practiced only Rheumatology. Many of the general physicians practicing Rheumatology along with general medicine.

I joined IRA in 1988, and attended the First IRACON  in Chennai organised by Prof.A.N.Chandrasekharan father figure of the Indian Rheumatology.

The awareness and knowledge about Rheumatology was non- existent in the general public. Even the medical profession there was no concept of Rheumatology as a speciality. There were no laboratories who were doing ANA in Karnataka. I used to send the sample to Mumbai and it used to take ten days to get the reports. Chloroquine phosphate and sulphate, Sulfasalazine, Gold injection, Methotrexate, D-Penicillamine and Wysolone was available which was widely used. People used to think there was no cure for arthritis and take the Painkillers and steroids and survive with deformity and disability and complications of the disease. Across the country it was the same situation.

After 1995 things started improving. More and more laboratories started doing Rheumatological investigations. Awareness in the medical profession was increasing as well as in the patient population.

So the period from 1983 to 2000 was not really bright for the Speciality and the organisation. We used have IRACONS with few dozen to two hundred plus. Pharma industries started noticing us and slowly getting involved.

More and more international distinguished Rheumatologists from U.K. and U.S.A. started attending our conferences.

We also started attending EULAR, ACR, APLAR and BSR. We started collaborative projects like in vasculitis. We also started advanced Rheumatology courses with some of the best in the world coming and talking to us. These meetings were focused, and of high standard and well attended.

Journal started coming regularly with articles from across the world.

We started bringing “Manual of Rheumatology” regularly which became a good reference book with Indian authors and Indian data. More and more post graduate and post doctoral positions were available and continue to increase. Apart from these there were Fellowship programs which acted as force multiplier effect in providing Rheumatology services and number of Rheumatologists.

We also had inter speciality meetings, State conferences, zonal conferences. IRACONS  became bigger, better comparable to international conferences.

Our colleagues published huge number of speciality books including single disease books. These books are well written, great contents and very useful.

Globalization of Indian Rheumatology started.

So the period from 2000 to 2026 the present period is the period when Indian Rheumatology grown, matured and become relevant in the global Rheumatology scene. This is the golden Era of Indian Rheumatology. Our patients education and awareness programs started paying dividends.

This growth has surprised me. Rheumatology which was a Cinderella speciality has become the most sought after speciality.

Future looks very bright and optimistic. With the new medicines, new biomarkers, treatment modalities available we can do justice to our patients. We have some of the brightest, brilliant, accomplished,hard  working youngsters who have the advantage of age and time in their favour.

With nearly,48 years of experience in the field including my training years, and contributing my mite to the growth of Rheumatology I can say we don’t have to worry

Long live Indian Rheumatology