AFVOA Newsletters of Year 2012

Page 17 of 80 The Next bimonthly Meet Members would be happy to note that, the next Meeting is a Day Meet on Saturday 14 April 2012. Please note that the venue is at Palm Grove Sainik Institute, adjacent to the Civil GT Company and is at the rear of Fort Railway Station This Meet will start at 1030 Hrs and conclude with a hearty lunch. We hope that the members would find it convenient to attend the meet, as the chosen day is a holiday and second Saturday too!! Kindly confirm details of your attendance to any one of the committee members by Email/Tele by 1700 Hrs, Wed 11 April 2012, to enable placing of firm orders on the catering contractor. Please cooperate and avoid last minute intimations. The subsidized rate of Rs 75/- per head be remitted by a crossed cheque in favour of Armed Forces Veteran Officers Association in advance to enable the committee members to also enjoy the meet and not get bogged down at the collection counter and look around for the balance to be paid for your Rs100/-currency note !! We have procured plastic tokens that will be given to you to obtain the lunch from the distribution counter manned by the catering contractor. From the President’s desk I am back on track after a bout of illness. My recovery was hastened by the many good wishes of fellow AFVOAns that I received in person, on tele and on email. My wife and I appreciate the concern and goodwill. Thank you. My interactions with our members from time to time indicated to me that the burning issue now is the empanelment of hospitals in Chennai. Elsewhere in this issue, the updated list has been presented. It is clear that we are losing some of the better hospitals and that is indeed a matter of grave concern. I have been in touch with the Station HQ as also the management of one of the prestigious hospitals that is no longer empanelled. I have tried to understand the problem from both sides. There are issues but they are resolvable. I am confident that with some effort it will be possible to improve the situation. I am personally meeting the people concerned along with some of our members who are putting their shoulders to the wheel. We are very hopeful. Volunteerism has caught on and I am happy to see a few of our fellow veterans giving their time and energy as volunteers to the ECHS Polyclinic at MH Complex. This attitude of “giving to the community” is infectious and I have no doubt many others will gladly step forward to give their time and energy to causes that are for the general good. Recently I was discussing the possibility of putting our very own website with Gen Balasubrahmanian, a renowned expert on computers and their applications. He whole- heartedly agreed that it will be a step in the right direction and result in better inter- communication between the members and act as a catalyst for many other activities that we may plan. He also mentioned that there will be many tech savvy volunteers among us who may be willing to put up the website for us at a minimal cost. If that is so, I invite those among you who are adept at this kind of activity to get in touch with us and we may take this forward. On the subject of dissemination of notices and reminders to our veterans, who perhaps need to be reminded more than once on various issues, we have the email facility. For those who are not on email, we normally send hard copies or call them on telephones. An easier option is to send text messages to them if they give us their mobile numbers.