June 2008

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.

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.

Medical Professional Liability

Noting the escalating subscriptions for the Medical Protection Society (MPS), a Working Group, chaired by Dr. David Fang, has been established to examine the problems relating to medical professional liability, and make recommendations to the Academy Council for any action and submission to the Government. The Chairman of the Working Group has submitted a report to the Council recently, and met with the representative of MPS in May to follow up on the issue. The MPS representative would bring back the points/concerns raised by the Academy to the head office for further consideration.

Facilities Management of the Academy Building

In October last year, a new facilities management company was appointed for management of the facilities in the Academy Building. The House Committee will review the performance of the company in order to improve its services. Fellows who have frequently used the facilities at the Building may wish to offer their views and comments on this. Please write to the House Committee at [email protected].

1st Joint International Conference of the Hong Kong College of Psychiatrists and the Royal College of Psychiatrists (UK) The Conference will be held on 13-15 December 2008 at the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine Jockey Club Building. Theme of this conference is Advancing Psychiatric Care in the Emerging World: East meets West. For further information about the conference, please click here or visit the website: www.psychconference.org.hk.

15th Anniversary Congress - "Working together: The Power of Collaboration"

CME/CPD Points are now available!
Please check <www.hkam.org.hk/hkam15/congress.htm> for details.

Collaboration on Reciprocal Facilities between the Academy and Royal Society of Medicine

HKAM and RSM have decided to consolidate and strengthen links between the two organizations. On 6 December 2007, the Academy and RSM signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to set out the initial collaboration between HKAM and RSM in reciprocal use of facilities for Fellows and members of the two organisations. Further collaborations such as online CPD services will be pursued at a later stage. Under this MOU, RSM will allow Fellows of HKAM to use the accommodation facilities (Chandos House http://www.chandoshouse.co.uk/ only), restaurants, bars and lounges of the RSM when they travel to London. The services will be provided to HKAM Fellows on pay-on-use basis by the user. Fellows who wish to use the facilities of RSM can contact the Academy’s External Affairs Officer on [email protected]. The Academy will provide a letter of introduction for authentication of Fellowship status at reservation for facilities.

CME/CPD for Specialist Registration

Fellows are reminded that Specialist Registration(SR) is maintained by MCHK/DCHK. The Academy’s duty is only to make reports to MCHK/DCHK on compliance of CME/CPD for the purpose of SR. While the Academy can grant exemption to Fellows retired from active practice, this is for the purpose of Fellowship only. The MRO and DRO stipulate that CME is a must for the SR. The Academy will cease to record CME/CPD for a Fellow upon his/her resignation or approval of CME exemption, and shall inform the MCHK/DCHK once his/her name has been removed from the Academy’s register. Fellows who wish to resign his Fellowship or apply for CME/CPD exemption should consider voluntary resignation from the SR with MCHK/DCHK directly, if their names are on the SR. The Academy cannot do this on behalf of Fellows.

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

ORIGINAL ARTICLES

• Caecal metastasis from a primary small-cell lung carcinoma

Online CME/CPD

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

Upcoming Conference(s) / Symposium(s)