Coimbatore : City orthopaedic and spine surgeon Dr Rajesekaran is taking over as the International Chair of AOSpine, the world’s largest body of spine surgeons, during the annual international trustees meeting in Basel in Switzerland tomorrow.

Dr Rajasekaran, Chairman of Ganga Hospital orthopaedics and spine surgery department here is the first person to be nominated and elected from the whole of Asia Pacific region to this prestigious position.

He will take over from Prof Dan Riew of New York and hold the position till 2021 and will direct and coordinate the entire educational and research activities of the prestigious organisation, a hospital statement said today.

AOSpine is the largest international society of spine surgeons spread across all the continents, with more than 8,000 spine surgeon members around the world and spends more than $20 million every year in education and research

During the next three years, Rajasekaran aims to introduce two major international projects in spine surgery worldwide. The first is the formation of ‘Clinical Practice forums’ which will bring together expert spine surgeons on specific disease conditions around the world to enunciate standard practice protocols and appropriate guidelines across the world.

This should help overcome the many controversies present over the treatment of various spinal disorders and promote consensus among surgeons.

The other is the formation of ‘Spine Surgery Diploma Exams’ throughout the world. While the need for spine surgery and the number of spine surgeries performed around the world was on the increase, there were no formal training and evaluation for the field of spine surgery in more than 70 per cent of the countries.

There was urgent need for a standardised training and evaluation methods, the statement added.