The first dedicated pediatric surgery unit was established in 1960 at Jinnah Central Hospital (later named as Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center) Karachi. It was later upgraded to National Institute of Child Health which was under administrative control of Federal Government of Pakistan, Ministry of Health. In initial days pediatric surgery was managed by the general surgeons with special interest in pediatric surgery. In 1988 the first MS and later in 1991 the first Fellow of College of Physicians & Surgeons Pakistan joined the team of pediatric surgeons. They were trained in Pakistan through a structured residency program at par with international standards.

Pediatric surgery progressed at fast pace with increase in the number of centers and quality of surgical services provided by trained professionals. At present there are about 250 fully trained pediatric surgeons in Pakistan providing care to about 36 million pediatric population of the country in more than 60 pediatric surgical centers in Pakistan. Pediatric surgeons has kept pace with the advances in other countries and now most centers are providing a variety of pediatric surgical services that include General pediatric surgery, Neonatal surgery, Minimally invasive surgery, Pediatric urology, Reconstructive surgery for congenital birth defects, Pediatric burns care, Pediatric Trauma. Pediatric orthopedics etc.

Pediatric renal transplant, Bone marrow transplant and recently liver transplant has been started in few centers in Pakistan. Trained Pediatric surgeons are part of such teams. Pediatric cardiac surgery services are also provided in selected centers in major cities. Pediatric Surgeons are working with firm commitment to the mission statement that is “Provide world class care to pediatric surgical patients in Pakistan through research & innovation”.

Dear members of APSP greetings from Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Surgery. The journal website is now officially launched and you can submit your manuscripts online by registering an author account on the journal’s website http://jpedas.org. Instructions to the authors can be seen on the submissions page of the journal.

The first two issues are dedicated to the manuscripts (all categories) presented at APSP congress Lahore 2019, and APSP congress Nawab Shah 2020, as oral or poster presentations. The maiden issue of the journal must be participated by every department of Pediatric Surgery and Super-specialties by submitting quality manuscripts. The Guest Editors for the issue dedicated to Lahore congress will be Prof. Mahmood Shaukat and Prof. Muhammmad Saleem and Guest Editors for the issue dedicated to Nawab shah congress will be Prof. Ali Raza Brohi and Dr. Saqib Qazi.

We have to publish three issues till December 2020, therefore everyone one is requested to submit manuscripts in various categories of submission especially original articles, systematic reviews, case reports etc.

Dear friends, this is your journal and we all are guardians of this journal being members of APSP. With our contributions, the journal can survive and flourish. I, on behalf of the editorial board, assure you that the journal will achieve its milestones such as indexing with PMDC in a year and by Pubmed in 2-3 years. This can only be possible with efforts of all of the pediatric surgeons and residents of pediatric surgery. Moreover, the editorial team has decided to waive off article publishing charges (2000/page) for the first two issues. Please get motivated and motivate others for writing manuscripts. Due to covid19 outbreak, sufficient time is available for writing. Kindly do contribute proudly.

Best wishes and personal regards

Professor Dr. Muhammad Saleem
Editor in Chief,
Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Surgery