Before I start the ritual of the traditional welcome address, I welcome the Honourable Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, GOI, Sri A. Raja, leading advocate and a well-known social worker.

Mrs Sujata will welcome the Honourable Minister with a bouquet. As a remembrance of this great day, I also request the Honourable Minister to accept a small token of remembrance.

I would now request Mrs Vijayalakshmi to honor with a bouquet the internationally renowned neurosurgeon, our Director General Dr. S.P. Agarwal and I request him to accept a momento.

I request Mrs Tajunnisa to welcome Dr G.V.Nagaraj, Director of Health Services, Karnataka with a bouquet and request him to accept the momento.

I request Mrs Sharada to honour Dr. Thomas R Frieden, MO, WHO, a relentless, dedicated and internationally respected TB worker to accept the bouquet and a token of remembrance. He was requested to revise Toman’s Text Book of TB which he has successfully completed about a month back. You will see the new edition of Toman with his effort.