Prof. Dr. Dinubhai Patel, was instrumental in persuading the Government of Gujarat to initiate and make the Paraplegia Hospital, now known as the Government Spine Institute in Ahmedabad within the Civil Hospital Campus along with then Superintendent of Civil Hospital, Dr. C.I.Jhala.
The centre offered comprehensive care in form of dedicated orthopedic surgeons, Urologists, plastic surgeons, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, orthotics professionals, social workers and vocational trainers. Dr. Patel’s vision was to make a world class rehabilitation centre like Stokes Madivelle by Ludwig Guttman.
Armed with his great interest in spine surgery, Dr Patel attended the first Meet of ASSI held in Mumbai under the aegis of Dr. K. T. Dholakia. The association’s first conference was held the very next year in Ahmedabad in 1987. It was a 3-day affair held at Gujarat Cancer Research Institute with 300 attendees and organised by Dr. D.A. Patel, Dr. Jyotindra Pandit, Dr. Pankaj R. Patel and Dr. M.M. Prabhakar.
The academic initiative was started and taken forward by Dr. Dinubhai Patel. Since 1990, 6 monthly meetings have been held and Dr. V T Ingalhalikar and Dr. S.Y. Bhojraj have attended all of them, supporting Dr. D.A. Patel. In 1992, the first major Annual Meeting was conducted in Ahmedabad.
Initially, the Spine Association of Gujarat was known as Gujarat Spine Association and was founded in 1996. The Founder-President was Dr. Dinubhai A Patel, the Vice Presidents were Dr. P.R.Thakore and Dr. Sumant Shah, the Secretary and Joint Secretary were Dr. Pankaj Patel and Dr. M.M.Prabhakar. The Executive Members were Dr. Nagpal, Dr. H.D.Bhalodiya, and Dr. Amit C. Jhala. The formation is actually the oldest local state chapter of India in spine surgery!
Over the years, regular clinical meetings have been held and many live surgical demonstrations have been done. Most meetings were done at B.J. Medical College and NHL Municipal Medical College. The meetings were also held outside Ahmedabad as part of awareness programs in the smaller cities of Gujarat like Vadodara, Junagadh, Jamnagar, Bhuj, Mehsana, Bhavnagar and Surat. These meetings were not only educative but also were great social gathering where the surgeons bonded like one big family. Dr. M.M. Prabhakar and Dr. Pankaj Patel were largely instrumental for these meetings from the days Dr. Patel.
After 2002, the next generation of spine surgeons took over the challenge to develop the society, it was renamed and registered as the Spine Association of Gujarat (SAG) due to this logistical needs. Dr. Bharat R Dave and Dr. G D Tharadara brought together the scattered members by creating a directory and membership certificates. Besides Government Institute, the private institutes under Dr. Bharat R Dave and Dr. Amit Jhala were the pioneers to start exclusive work in spine specialty and take it to the grassroots level across the country along with many Fellows exclusively trained in the field of Spine by them. Another unique SAG legacy is the close association it fosters beauty between Orthopaedic surgeons and neurosurgeons.
In 2007, Gujarat Spine Association conducted ASSICON under the aegis of Dr. Bharat Dave as secretory. In 2014 MISSI (Minimally Invasive Spine Surgical Society of India) was formed and the first MISSICON was held under Secretory, Dr. A C Jhala. ASSICON 2019 was held under the able leadership of Dr. Subir Jhaveri.