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Message from the President, Dr. Donald Li, February 2013
Dear Fellows and colleagues, Wishing you all a Happy and Healthy New Year. I am indeed honoured to be elected your new President. Thank you for your support and the faith you entrust in me. Rest assured I will do my best to follow the footsteps of our very successful previous presidents. I would like to thank Raymond and the past presidents for their leadership. You have all been extremely inspiring and worked tirelessly for the Academy and helped it to gain an excellent reputation internationally. It will be hard act to follow but I am ready for the challenge. One unique quality of a family physician is that we do a good job in referring patients for specialist opinions. I will seek the help from my Officers, my Council and all of you to continue that good work of my predecessors. This year the Academy celebrates its 20th anniversary, for which we have planned some exciting celebrations. Throughout the year we will have media activities to remind the public about the Academy and its role, as well as the work of its various specialties. We will hold an exhibition in August targeted at giving Secondary Students an early glimpse of the career paths in various specialties. An international scientific conference will be held over the period 8 to 10 December, overlapping the date of our birthday. We are discussing with the Hong Kong Jockey Club the possibility of a horse race with a cup dedicated to celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Academy. We have also started to work on setting up a simulation centre at the Academy that will focus on non–skill-based scenario simulation training, and complement the training centres of the Hospital Authority.
My greatest wish, however, is to engage Fellows and make all of you feel you are part of the Academy. I hope to provide incentives to entice you to come and use the facilities. Since the building will soon be over 15 years old, we will be undertaking some renovations with the aim of facilitating your use. We hope to upgrade the food and beverage section, the décor, and the audiovisual equipment in the meeting and examination rooms. We are fortunate to have assistance from non-medical experts in these fields. Besides, attracting more of you to come to the Academy we have established a Member Services Working Group, with the task of assisting Fellows — young and old. We hope to establish more academic exchanges through provision of scholarships for Fellows to receive international training and on the mainland. We will also be working to establish a Research Ethics Committee, with the aim of assisting Fellows in private practice who may wish to seek expert advice.
Hong Kong is facing many challenges at this time. Thus, I anticipate a lot of work will be needed in the field of healthcare reform and financing. Patients have high expectations for quality services and the mission of the Academy is to maintain standards of excellence provided by well-trained specialists. As a statutory body, the Academy will continue to work closely with the Government and volunteer to send representatives to various boards and committees. The Academy also needs to continue to be engaged in work on credentialing, which will no doubt be a major challenge.
I think the Academy will also benefit from a higher public profile. Some members of the public are still not clear as to what role the Academy plays. Thus, we have to engage a public relations company to augment our visibility in the media and be seen to be engaged in the series of activities leading to our birthday at the end of this year. We will need assistance from many of you for this purpose, for which I hope there will be an enthusiastic response. I look forward to meeting many of you in the coming year. Needless to say, I value your advice and support to lead the Academy from strength to strength. Best wishes for success and happiness.
Dr Donald Li |