MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION OF SURGEONS OF SOUTH AFRICA HELD AT

Transcription

1 MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION OF SURGEONS OF SOUTH AFRICA HELD AT the 24 TH WITS BIENNIAL SURGICAL SYMPOSIUM (SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH BUILDING) ON TUESDAY 8 JULY WELCOME PROFESSOR ROBERT BAIGRIE Professor Baigrie welcomed those present. He congratulated Professor Martin Veller on his appointment as Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Wits. As this was not a voting year, proxies were not accepted. 70 Attendees per attendance register 2. APOLOGIES Received from Dr T Hardcastle, Professors R du Toit, G Goldberg, D Kahn, J Terblanche 3. OBITUARIES Manilal Daya George Decker Raoul De Villiers Khalid Hussain Mahadev Naidoo Jaap Oosterlee Rob Russell A minute of silence was observed for colleagues who have passed on. 4 CONFIRMATION OF THE MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS AGM OF 13 MARCH Accepted and confirmed. 5. CHAIRMAN S REPORT PROFESSOR MARTIN VELLER Professor Martin Veller presented his report for the past year and described the projects undertaken by the Executive Committee: Guidelines: Medico-legal advisors. A list of members who are prepared to undertake medico-legal work has been prepared. Guidelines are being developed at present. There has been debate about whether or not ASSA should become involved, and a disclaimer from ASSA will be sent to any person requiring such services. Update of the 2006 Surgeons Study: OSD was achieved for all Public Service doctors (irrespective of the specialty) as a result of the study. In 2006 there were 500 registered surgeons in SA, but 1300 were needed. This data needs updating. Private Practice Remuneration: Not enough data is available to complete this study. Injury Prevention Course This was investigated but it is too expensive to bring to South Africa. Practice Guidelines Are being prepared, this is a work in progress. Reducing Litigation MPS are investigating this, and this is an area where ASSA can make a contribution. History of ASSA (5 February 1943 to date) Yvonne Pyne-James is writing the history, from the first ASSA meeting held on 5 February PARTNERSHIPS

2 SAMA: Surgicom and ASSA reached agreement regarding components of general surgeons in the international environment. FoSAS now has 12 participating societies including Anaesthetics and Surgeons in Training (SASSiT) INTERNAL: - FoSAS (ASSA, CS of CMSA, SABS, SAAPS, SACRS, SASES, SASSiT, SNSA, SRSSA, SURGICOM, TSSA, VASSA) EXTERNAL - - PAAS - - ISS-ICS - - ACS; ASGBI, DSG SAJS Editors are very active and receive >120 submissions per month, of which a large proportion are rejected. Getting reviews back timeously is still problematic. This hinders submission to publication turnaround time. HMPG is now charging R25000 publication fee per issuei.e. R p.a.). ASSA, VASSA and SASES have agreed to contribute in ASSA 2015 CONGRESS - Durban 8-10 August 2015 at the Durban ICC, combined with SAGES. Prof T Madiba and Prof K Newton head the LOC, and Eastern Sun Events will be utilized. Participating societies are ASSA, SASES, TSSA, VASSA, who will carry the financial risk, but all member and associated member societies will be invited to participate. The Programme will be of interest to all general surgeons. ASSA 2017 Host: MEDUNSA (Prof Z Koto) FEDERATION OF SOUTH AFRICAN SURGEONS (FoSAS) Current Chairperson: Jay Pillai; Secretary-General: Martin Veller. Due to his new commitments as Dean of FHS at Wits, Prof Veller will see out his term of office but will not stand for re-election. There are presently 12 member societies and three affiliated societies. Recent Developments: HPCSA discussion regarding ownership and use of radiological equipment by appropriately qualified persons Support for the SAJS Review of the 2006 Surgeons Study Single Surgical society invoice Co-operation with SASA PAN AFRICAN ASSOCIATION OF SURGEONS (PAAS) President: Martin Smith ( ) has forged a closer co-operation with WACS and COSECSA, who are holding a combined meeting in September Lancet Commission on Global Surgery is launching a project to access surgical data as a global metric for health care. A summit will be held in September 2014, and will be engaging with the African Union. FUTURE OF ASSA Many significant challenges lie ahead: NHI (including current healthcare challenges) Certificate of Need Ability to train in Academic centres Need to grow membership: this is a member driven and member sensitive association. The New Exco will be selected in 2015

3 6. TREASURER S REPORT DR INES BUCCIMAZZA Dr Buccimazza presented the report for the financial year March 2013 to February The book value of the association is R The Association s finances have shown a growth of 5.80%. Fees will increase by 10% in INCOME STATEMENT MARCH 2013 FEBRUARY 2014 INCOME R EXPENSES R Sundries (Subscriptions, Sundries Admin fees) Congress Salaries Interest Fees TOTAL TOTAL DEFICIT Full Members Associate Members - HDip Surg - Trainee International members Honorary Members Nil Nil Retired Members - SAJS - No SAJS Membership breakdown: Total number of members Made up of: Full Members Hon. Life Members Associate Members International Members Retired Members Nil Nil New members in FoSAS SINGLE INVOICE Introduced in 2014, and first disbursement of funds to participating societies was made in June Payments from International members incur significant bank charges (approx. R155 per transaction). Solution is to let International members pay directly to the ASSA account as done previously. There are still errant members who have not yet paid their fees. Of the 426 current members, 10 are in credit, 264 are fully paid up, but 152 remain unpaid. Members who owe 2013 and 2014 fees will receive written notification, and failure to pay will result in suspension of membership on 31 December Those who owe for more than 3 years, will be immediately suspended. SURGICOM REPORT MIKLE WELLSTED Surgicom is now a fully paid up member of SAPPF and is represented on SAMA and SPPC. Membership of ASSA is 80% in private practice. The Surgicom secretariat was successfully transferred to Healthman when Yvonne Pyne- James retired. Their financial status is improving and a number of projects are underway through Healthman. A memorandum of Agreement between ASSA and Surgicom is in process.

4 a) Certificate of Need Drs Klipin, Matley and Wellsted attended a meeting at DOH and the only other health service group represented was the Psychiatrists. A Certificate of Need was enacted into law in March this year although it was initially addressed in The legislation states that every individual functioning in the health field is required to apply for a Certificate of Need, ostensibly to address the burden of disease. If approved by the Director General of Health the certificate will be issued within a year of application. Whilst ASSA would support anything which enhanced the supply of equal and equitable healthcare throughout the country, it was felt that: Introduction of this legislation is unconstitutional The medical professions were being unfairly singled out The life of the doctor would be under the total control of the Director General Sections of the act are too onerous, particularly with the threat of a five year prison term for individuals practising without a certificate The meeting was in no way a consultation and this fact will be recorded Stakeholders have not been engaged The act is potentially in conflict with the competition commission In response to Dr Matley note on the meeting, Casper Venter has indicated that Healthman would request a repeal of the act. It was decided that: ASSA would send to the Director General objecting to that section of the act but stating that they would be delighted to engage with the DG on health issues FoSAS would write to SAMA and SAPPF Legal experts would deal with the actual law Surgical societies would concentrate on health care and engaging with the Department of Health ASSA would ensure that they were well represented at the forthcoming AGM of the SAPPF. HONORARY LIFE VICE PRESIDENT DR PAUL COOKE ASSA S Constitution allows for 6 Hon. Life Vice President at any one time. Presently Bertie Hellberg, John Terblanche, Mike Wellsted and Peter Jeffery hold this title. Dr Paul Cooke was a member of the ASSA Executive for over 20 years, and served as Chairman from He became President in 2000 and served until He was also the founder of Surgicom. He was instrumental in the transformation of ASSA, and is well deserving of this honor. Dr Cooke was invited to receive his award from the current President. 8. SURGICOM REPORT 8. GENERAL. 8.1 Preferred communication medium to be changed to electronic It was confirmed to those present that the preferred method of communication with ASSA members will be electronic in the future. 8.2 Changes to website administration E2 Solutions will be retained until December Sanofi have indicated that they will continue with their generous support for the ASSA (and affiliates) websites, but the societies may be required to contribute financially in future. The Executive are presently investigating other website service providers. 9 The next AGM will be held in Durban in 2015.

5