April 2008

Extraordinary General Meeting – 19 June 2008

Council has decided to hold an EGM on 19 June 2008 to admit new Fellows.  The EGM will be held at 7:30 pm at the Council Chamber, 10/F HKAM Jockey Club Building, 99 Wong Chuk Hang Road, Aberdeen, Hong Kong.  All Fellows are welcome to attend.

Consultation Session on Healthcare Reform

The Food and Health Bureau (FHB) has released a consultation document on healthcare reform entitled "Your Health Your Life". FHB would like to invite HKAM Fellows to a consultation forum:

Date : 11 April 2008 (Friday)
Time : 7:15pm – 9:00pm
Venue : Hong Kong Academy of Medicine

Interested Fellows please fill in and fax the reply form to 2871 8898 before 9 April 2008.
For details, please click below to download reply form:

• Invitation Letter
• Reply Form

2005-2007 CME/CPD Cycle

Following the close of the CME/CPD cycle for 2005-2007, Colleges have reported to the Academy’s Education Committee some non-compliance cases.  A letter has been sent to Fellows who have been reported to have failed to obtain the required number of points for the cycle ending 31 December 2007.  The Academy would like to remind Fellows that CME/CPD non-compliance may affect their Fellowship and Specialist Registration (SR) status, and would like to request Fellows to respond on time to calls from their Colleges for CME/CPD returns.  This would help your College and the Academy in accurate and timely reporting to the Academy Council, Medical Council of Hong Kong, and Dental Council of Hong Kong for the purposes of Fellowship and SR maintenance.

	Hong Kong College of Family Physicians Annual Scientific Meeting
	The Hong Kong College of Family Physicians will organize its Annual Scientific Meeting “Family Physicians and Our Community” on 24-25 May 2008 (Sat & Sun) at the Academy Building. For details, please visit the following website: http://www.hkcfp.org.hk/asm2008.htm

The William and Elizabeth Davies Foundation Trust International Meeting, 10-11 May 2008

The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow has invited the Hong Kong College of Physicians to jointly organise a cancer care meeting in Hong Kong in May 2008 at the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine Building. The theme of the meeting is "Pushing the Boundaries in Multidisciplinary Cancer Care". The programme will include two plenary lectures on molecular diagnostics and molecular therapeutics respectively in 'Oncology in Clinical Practice'. There will be plenary sessions on early diagnosis/screening, advances in surgical oncology, adjuvant therapy, treatment in advanced disease for prevalent cancers in Hong Kong (colorectal, lung, breast, liver, and lymphoma), advances in endoscopic and minimally invasive techniques, and palliative care. There will also be posters sessions with prize awards. For details, please click below to download the announcement of the Meeting. Announcement part 1 Announcement part 2

HIMSS AsiaPac 2008 Conference & Exhibition

The HIMSS AsiaPac 2008 will be held on 20-23 May 2008 in Hong Kong.  Registration for the conference has started, please visit their website http://www.himssasiapac.org/.  The Academy is one of the Supporting Organisations of this conference.  Academy Fellows will be entitled to HIMSS Member Rate. 

2008 Annual Subscriptions

Demand notes for the 2008 subscriptions have been sent to Fellows from either the Academy or their College. Fellows will note that the subscription amount this year is reduced, as the Academy Council has upon recommendation of the Finance & Investment Committee approved a one-off 50% reduction of the annual subscription to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Academy in 2008. Please be reminded that it is Council's policy that subscriptions received by the Academy after 30 June will be subject to a surcharge of 5% on the subscription amount. Please settle your subscription as soon as possible if you have not yet done so.

Hong Kong Academy of Medicine turns 15 this year!

New Congress information is available. Please check updates <www.hkam.org.hk/hkam15> now!

5-Day Working Week

Council has endorsed the recommendation of House Committee to adopt 5-day working week. Starting from January 2008, opening hours of the HKAM Secretariat will be:

Monday to Friday: 08:30 - 17:30 (Lunch Hour: 12:30 - 13:30)
Saturday, Sunday and Public Holiday : Closed

Opening hours of other facilities in the Academy Building, e.g. Lounge, Dining Room, will remain unchanged.

2008-2010 CME/CPD Cycle

For the current CME/CPD cycle (2008-2010), number of points obtained by means of passive participation will be capped at 75 for a cycle. Fellows are reminded to take note of this. Fellows can click below to obtain a copy of the Academy's CMECPD Guidelines. For individual College guidelines, Fellows should contact their Colleges.

• CME/CPD Principles and Guidelines

2011-2013 CME/CPD Cycle

For the CME/CPD cycle starting 1 January 2011, on top of changes for 2008. Fellows would be strongly encouraged to (a) maintain a balanced CME/CPD profile with a mix of different activities, including 5 points in a cycle from activities in quality assurance audits and activities for improvement of patient care in order to capture the full benefit of different types of CME/CPD activities; and (b) increase further the CME/CPD points gained from activities other than passive participation through decreasing the proportion of passive participation CME/CPD activities. Fellows will receive further detailed information from the Academy shortly.

Hong Kong Medical Journal February 2008 issue is now available on the Journal's website <http://www.hkmj.org>. Highlights of this issue include:

ORIGINAL ARTICLES

• Cryoglobulinaemia: clinical and laboratory perspectives

Online CME/CPD

Quizzes from the following Colleges are currently available at iCMECPD website for Fellows to study online for CME/CPD: