Dear Members,
The year is half past gone and I feel that it is time to take stock of both what is in store for the next half and that which has come to pass.
GOVERNANCE. We had an auspicious start for the year for the executive council. We expanded our roster to include representatives from the different regions of the country. They are as follows:
Dr. Manuel Hipolito Ilocos region
Dr. Benny Sunga Baguio, La Union
Dr. Tony Guzman Central Luzon
Dr. Boy Garcia Southern Luzon
Dr. ROnnieUrsua Bicol Region
Dr. BoniCabahug Central Visayas
Dr. Pete Tingson Iloilo, Bacolod
Dr. Harry Longno Northern Mindanao
This was a move approved by the council in an effort to get a more palpable pulse of what the majority of the urologists feel and want and have that echoed in our council meetings. It is sort of experimental and we will have to decide at the end of my term whether we will continue it or not
Our treasurer, Raul Andutan and Secretary, Jim Balingit have both moved to relocate our funds, both foreign and local currency to higher yielding but still, short term instruments. We still have a hefty amount of collectibles from last year and this year's midyear meeting proceeds have added on to that list. We have around P21 M in our various accounts but we expect to spend a lot in the coming Annual meeting which is a tripartite undertaking with the Philippine Endourology Society and the Asia Pacific Association of Pediatric Urologists.
We have assigned Dr Andutan to head a committee to look into the possibility of buying or constructing a building for the PUA in the future. There are ongoing talks that the PCS building might be up for sale or transfer and we felt that it might be high time to find a place of our own.
MEETINGS. We had a very successful and event filled Midyear Meeting in Bicol. I can never congratulate nor thank the Bicol group enough for their efforts in making this one of the more memorable meetings in recent history. I would also like to thank Dr. Benny Sunga for "taking on" Cong. EdcelLagman in an impromtu point counterpoint in the proposed Reproductive Health Bill. AmbethOcampo, our third speaker was likewise very warmly received by the audience. His dissertation on Rizal’s life as a“Urologist” was both revealing and entertaining.
Our upcoming bi-monthly scientific meeting schedule is as follows:
2nd Quarter
June 24, 2009 “Current Perspective in the Difficult to treat GUTB in azotemic patients” Sponsored by PharexPharma
3rd Quarter
August “Point-Counterpoint: is the Philippines ready for robotics? Sponsored by Bayer Philippines
4th Quarter
October “ Current prospects of PCNL as a stone treatment option in different training centers in the Philippines” – by NKTI, USTH, UP- PGH & SLMC Sponsored by Patriot Pharma
Our 52nd Annual Meeting this year ushers in many changes from the way we have conducted previous annual meetings. First of all, it will be a tripartite meeting between the PUA, the East Asia Society of Endourology and the Asia Pacific Society of Pediatric Urologists. Second, we will be holding it earlier than usual, i.e. November 24-26 at the Edsa Shangri-La Hotel. This is so because we have tried to accommodate the availability of our international speakers and delegates in order to maximize their attendance in the meeting. Third, the meeting will combine not only a gamut of plenary and state of the art lectures but we will also be holding live surgery demonstrations and workshops for a day at the National Kidney and Transplant Institute. It promises to be a very exciting and educational event and I hope that each and every PUA member will be there to experience it.
OUTREACH. The outreach committee had a very busy 1st quarter outreach activity in Cagayan de Oro where around 11 major surgeries were done together with a free outpatient clinic and a UTI and BPH lecture in the evening. As of this writing they just finished their mission in Bacolod (May 29-31) of which I have yet to receive a full report. The remaining missions will be on:
3rd Quarter (August 7-9 2009) Bohol Sponsored by UNILAB, Biomedis
All of the missions will be attended by either myself or Dr. Gana, our vice president in order to hold simultaneous dialogues with the PUA members in that region.
Our National DRE will be held on two Saturdays, June 13 for the Mindanao group who are having it early because they have a scheduled annual post-graduate activity in General Santos city on June 20. The rest of the country will have it on June 20, the traditional day before Father’s Day event. As usual, our Pharmaceutical partners will be there to help with the activities.
RESEARCH. We have received a substantial research grant from MulticarePharma as announced during our Midyear meeting. This is being spent by or Research Committee to fund worthy research proposals from the different institutions and to hold research training workshops for our residents in training. This should hopefully boost our research output for the coming years.
The rest of our committees are busy preparing for the annual meeting. The Membership Committee has processed the applications of the recent and would be passers of the PBU qualifying examinations. The Website and Publications committee are “renovating and updating” our website in order to cope with the online queries for the meeting and the sending out of information to our members. The Sports and Socials committee are likewise finalizing plans for the annual meeting festivities and they promise new and more fun activities for the fellowship night. We have two new affiliated clubs – SILIP Photography and the Gun clubs- which are both very active.
I will be giving quarterly updates for the rest of the year. I hope that all members are gearing up for the activities outlined above. The secretariat and myself are always open to complaints, suggestions, and recommendations. Please e-mail us at pua_org@yahoo.com or dpserrano@yahoo.com.
Sincerely
Dennis P. Serrano, MD
President
Philippine Urological Association,Inc.
Mozilla Browser