Message from the President, G. Tang, February 2006
Dear Fellows,
I wish to
take this opportunity to wish you and your families a healthy and happy 2006
as well as the Year of the Dog.
For
the past year, you have been informed about deeper collaboration with
China
and that the Academy has been invited by the Ministry of Health (MOH)
to assist in the development of Specialist Training, Accreditation and
Registration. Much dialogue had occurred. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
was to be signed on 6 February 2006 but due to unforeseeable circumstances,
the ceremony had to be deferred. The MOU shall be signed at the earliest
possible time that is convenient to both parties. Notwithstanding the
deferment of the MOU, collaborative work is ongoing. The Academy has
established the Academy Scholarship for exchange of training, and in the first
instance, the Academy has decided that such exchange shall be offered to young
specialists so as to widen their scope of experience. Discussion is also
ongoing for consideration of trainees in
China
to take the intermediate examinations. This will be the first step in
benchmarking with the international standard. These activities are only the
beginning of a greater series of academic and professional activities and
exchanges between
Hong Kong
and Mainland. The Academy shall be establishing the policies with the MOH
while Colleges shall be launching the implementations. Depending on a number
of factors, different Colleges will be moving at different pace in this deeper
collaboration with
China
. Your views will be much appreciated.
On
Continuous Professional Development (CPD), I have given 3 talks in the last 4
months in
Seoul
, Hong Kong, and
Singapore
at Educational Meetings. I am very happy to learn that CPD has now become a
feature in Educational Meetings that previously concerned only undergraduate
education. While undergraduate education and postgraduate training lay the
foundation of medicine in well-structured formats, CPD is a very important
aspect of learning during our 3 to 4 decades of independent professional
practice. We wish to maintain professional standard through life-long
learning. There is a need to research into the best practice for CPD that will
improve performance in very diversified practices. I believe the basic
principle of CPD is for the individual to decide what is needed to learn and
to improve, and not merely for the accumulation of credits for the sake of
compliance. We are responsible for the standard of health-care of the
Community—the moral and ethical obligations
which I have alluded to before.
I shall be
in touch with you regularly on the activities of the Academy. I would also
like to hear from you too. It is only through dialogue that we can communicate
better and improve on the work of the Academy.
Yours
sincerely,
Professor
Grace Tang
President
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