GS Vasu, the founder and CEO of South First, inaugurated the Dakshin Health Summit 2025 at AIG in Hyderabad on 9 November.
Published Nov 09, 2025 | 11:42 AM ⚊ Updated Nov 09, 2025 | 11:42 AM
GS Vasu inaugurating Dakshin Health Summit 2025.
GS Vasu, the founder and CEO of South First, inaugurated the Dakshin Health Summit 2025 at the Asian Institute of Gastroenterology (AIG) in Hyderabad on Sunday, 9 November.
Here is the transcript of his inaugural speech.
Dear all, A very warm welcome to all on a chilly morning
Thank you all for taking out time on a Sunday morning to be part of Dakshin Health Summit 2025.
This is the second edition of South First‘s Health conclave, which has brought together doctors from different disciplines today. It is our absolute pleasure to host all of you.
At South First, our health vertical is our pride. Not only because of a team that reports stories with integrity or because we are widely read by doctors, medical professionals, stakeholders in government and private sector, but because our single-most focus is ensuring access to healthcare information and awareness in the simplest form possible for the common people — our readers.
It is their trust that motivates us to bridge the gap between credible, trustworthy healthcare professionals and the common person in an era where misinformation is derailing every aspect of human existence.
Now, today and here is the best time to discuss quackery. The age of digital access and smartphones, AI and influencers has made information accessible. But at the same time, it has made it near-impossible to distinguish between facts and fiction. We are bombarded with thousands of uninformed reels, hundreds of unfounded hacks, dozens of unrealistic influencers — misleading lakhs of Indians every day.
Now is the time for a platform like Dakshin Health Summit 2025 — an attempt to put science at the centre of healthcare discussions, research at the centre of public wellness.
We are journalists who believe in journalism for the public good. Journalists are deeply committed to the spirit of the Indian Constitution. And that’s why I feel compelled to quote from it. You may wonder what a health conclave on anti-quackery and best practices in Dermatology has to do with the Indian Constitution. Trust me, it has a lot.
Let’s never forget, Article 51A of our constitution deems citizens of India to develop scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry.
That is what we want to endorse today at the Dakshin Health Summit 2025. It is important to fight quackery and big companies indulging in misleading practices.
South First has always stood by and will continue to stand by proven scientific practices. Just like we stood by Dr Rajetha Damisetty when she challenged quacks dispensing medical advice, calling themselves dermatologists. We take pride in the fact that we stood by someone like Dr Sivaranjini in her long and tireless fight against companies that mislabelled products to pass them off as WHO-recommended ORS.
Dakshin Health Summit 2025 is part of a broad belief that displays South First‘s intent to stand for scientific practices backed by proven research rather than claims by pseudo-doctors and companies indulging in misleading practices.
At the second edition of Dakshin Health Summit, I take the opportunity to announce a year-long campaign we are set to embark on. The focus area of this campaign will be two epidemics that are emerging in India today — Diabetes and Obesity.
Our campaign will strive to bring you year-long awareness events, discussion forums, deep dive reportage, and outreach with stakeholders — all aimed at meaningful conversations and initiatives to make India healthier.
Let this event be the stepping stone towards this huge journey. And I am sure that Dr Rajetha will continue her work against quackery, and we will be happy to play our part in the process.
With these words, I declare Dakshin Health Summit 2025: Knowledge and Care in Dermatology open.
