The idea to form an association of Chest physicians in Kerala is largely owed to Senior faculty of this speciality in the state. Respiratory Medicine was one of the most developed speciality in the western world even in the nineties. Even though at national level we had organizations to nurture the growth of chest medicine, we never had one such association in Kerala. This caused a lack of recognition of Pulmonology as a speciality and resulted in sidelining Pulmonologists as TB specialists. The first informal meeting of the new association was on 2nd August 1998 at IMA hall Cochin.The meeting discussed various aspects of formation of the organisation and decided to call a general body meeting on Sunday 20th Sept. 1998 at Cochin.