Council_188-Report_President-Apr2011

Interim Report of the President of WMA
188th
WMA Council Session
7-9 April 2011
Sydney, Australia
Dear Chair, Council members, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am very pleased to be with you all at the 188th
. WMA Council Meeting in this lovely city of
Sydney. We are all aware that the world today is facing with several disasters both in Natural and
man-made. For the natural disasters that occurred in Christchurch, Yunnan, Miyagi -Sendai, and
lately in Myanmar and southern Thailand have been great agonizing catastrophes not only to
locality but also affected the other regions and internationally. The effect of those disasters had
done a great loss not only on the immediate term but also affect in long term health care. The loss
does not affect only physically but also affect mentally as well. I would like to admire the New
Zealand and the Japanese Medical Associations and their Governments that they have disclosed a
fair data and information to public and the world and had tried all their effort to protect the health of
the people. All these events are naturally produced and not preventable even though the hazard can
be reduced by good collaborative actions and technology of warnings. I would like to ask you all at
this meeting to show our respect to all those victims who had lost their lives in those disasters by
standing in silence for a moment and pray for them if you wish……….thank you very much, please
sit down.
Now, as I said, there were also man-made disasters which happened in many places in the world
such as in Fukushima where the man-maid power plants associated with the natural disaster have
made a great concern among the inhabitants and surrounding areas where the leaking of the
radiation had made the situation worse after the earthquake and tsunami and may be a long term
health effects if the leakage cannot be controlled soon enough. The fighting around the
Mediterranean region is also another cause of a great loss to property, premises and lives, not only
the lives of soldiers or warriors but also the lives of innocent citizen and children. Many times at
these events, our medical professionals were assaulted, kidnapped or being detained as hostages
such as in Mexico, Iran, Bahrain and Libya. These are actually preventable and caused by human.
The WMA had sent our statements to message our concerns.
Our medical Profession must be secured and well protected at all times, no matter in political
conflicts or war, however, we, as the medical profession should not make ourselves take side or be
part of the conflicts either.
I would like to admire all those physicians who have spent their lives and hard working time
helping people and victims in both natural and man-maid disasters for their great dedication and
contribution to the medical profession.
During the past 5 months of my duty as the President of the WMA, I have done as I promised at the
last Assembly in Vancouver to link our Medical Associations as friendly and more collaborative as
much as we can.
On November 11-13, 2010, I visited Taiwan to join the auspicious ceremony of the Doctor’s day
and gave a talk on “Doctor’s Pride and Responsibility” and also delivered a speech at the opening
ceremony.
On November 26-28, 2010, I visited Jiangyin, a city in main land China, to present a paper on
Smoking Cessation Program in Thailand.
On December 29, 2010 – January 3, 2011, I visited Hong Kong to attend the celebration of the 90th
Anniversary of the Hong Kong Medical Association and the New Year 2011.
On January 25-29, 2011, I attended the 2nd
Global Forum in Human resources for health in
Bangkok, WMA had a parallel session on Resilient Medical Profession.
On February 14-18, 2011, I attended the WHO-SEARO meeting on “Doctors- Patients
Relationship” in New Delhi, India
On March 2-4, 2011, I attended the “CMAAO Adhoc committee meeting on Task Shifting and
Strategy for Continuous Development of Medical Practice” in Tokyo
On March 16-18, 2011, I attended the WHO-SEARO Meeting on the “Partners for Health in South
–East Asia” in New Delhi
And now I am here at the 188th
Council Meeting in Sydney.
During the past 5 months, the connections of the Executive Committee were done through monthly
conference calls with fruitful discussion.
Wonchat Subhachaturas M.D. FRTCS, FICS