Sir Michael Marmot (UK) was elected President of Medical Affairs Committee MemberAt the Council meeting in Sydney, Australia (April 7 to 9), which was attended by delegates from over 30 national medical associations (NMAs), the World Medical Association has discussed a number of issues including:
Dr. Leonid Eidelman (Israel) was elected chairman of the Finance Committee
Japanese doctors were absent from the meeting, but Mr. Hisashi Tsuruoka, a staff member of the Medical Association of Japan, briefed the Council on the extent of the damage to his country and said he believed that Japan back in a time much shorter than than they were currently on hold.
Dr. Otmar Kloiber, Secretary General of the WMA, said the WMA, along with other health professions, would be looking to educate health professionals, patients and governments of the need to reduce the global burden of chronic disease by promoting health, prevention, treatment and rehabilitation, and supporting research and finance.
Dr. Torunn Janbu (Norway) was elected President of Medical Ethics
The meeting discussed the use of social networks by doctors, with delegates stressing both the risks and opportunities. Several national medical associations said they had already produced guidelines. It ‘was decided to establish a working group, including the network of doctors in training ‘of the WMA, to discuss the issue and produce a policy for the organization.
As part of its activities, the Council of AMM is to propose new statements on the social determinants of health and the global burden of chronic disease in its General Assembly in Montevideo, Uruguay, in October.
There was a discussion on developing a reporting mechanism to be part of the Tokyo Declaration on guidelines for doctors were ‘non-audit services of involvement in torture.
The delegates suggested that the national medical associations should provide support for doctors in difficult situations, even helping people to report violations of the health of patients and physicians work ethic in prison.
The oral reports were received by representatives of Japan and New Zealand on their recent earthquakes and delegates discussed the need for the MA to provide political support for the exchange of information and learning on the national medical associations disaster preparedness and medical response .