Preface to the First Edition

Over forty percent of the Indian population falls below fourteen years of age with its unique health problems, assessment approaches and interventional needs. Add another ten percent of adolescent population and the quantitative burden of pediatric health services become obvious.

Care of a child is as much an art as it is the science. While Pediatrics is an established specialty at post-graduate level, the need to strengthen pediatric training in India for undergraduates has been recognized recently with inclusion of pediatrics as a separate subject in MCI curriculum.

Although many excellent textbooks on pediatrics have been published during last decade, most of them concentrate on the training at postgraduate level and often considered as too advanced for undergraduates. Present book has been written with primary objective of undergraduate training, to provide them state-of-the-art information but in a concise and simplified format. However, postgraduates, especially Diploma students, are also expected to benefit by using this source to refresh their knowledge before further reading.

I am extremely grateful to all contributors, who promptly acceded to my request and wrote their chapters with diligence, excellence and relevance within the format and space constraints of the book.

I am indeed honored that Dr YK Amdekar, the renowned pediatrician and academician, as well as Dr SN Oak, beloved Dean and Professor & Head of Pediatric surgery at my institute, readily agreed to review the book and write Forewords to this edition.

I have no words to thank Dr Niranjan Shindurnikar, my close friend and the guiding force behind this book, who introduced me to the nitty-gritty of publication matters. My sincere thanks are also due to my colleagues and well-wishers for their ideas and cooperation. A special mention is needed for Dr Milind Tullu for proofreading and Dr Nilesh Jaiswal for illustrations. Dr CT Deshmukh, Dr Uday Khopkar, Dr Sudhir Shrivastava, Dr Kumar Doosa, Dr Radha Ghildiyal, Dr Sushma Malik and some of my residents provided me some excellent clinical photographs and X-rays, with permission to use them.

My parents have been the constant source of inner strength, so also my wife Reena and kids Paankhi & Ayush, who always encouraged me to take up this challenge and bring it to logical conclusion.

Finally, I wish to place on record my appreciation for Mr Rajesh Bhalani and their staff, for prompt and skilled publications work, as well Ms Sunita Tikare for her excellent print-setting work.

Mukesh Agrawal Professor and Unit Head Department of Pediatrics TN Medical College and BYL Nair Hospital Mumbai