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Website: http://www.fiamc.org
ASIA / ASIE
12th CONGRESS OF AFCMA
July 12-15, 2000, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
"Health challenges in Asia in the new millennium"
organised by the Catholic Doctors Association of Malaysia
Dr. Freddie Loh Tak Seng
Organising Chairman
Dear Brothers and Sisters In Christ,
It is my pleasant duty to welcome you all to Malaysia for the 12th AFCMA Congress. Our association i.e. the Catholic Doctors Association of Malaysia is honoured to be given the opportunity to host this prestigious event which is held once every four years. Therefore our Organising Committee has left no stone unturned in ensuring that we have prepared a Programme to suit everyone's taste.
At a brainstorming session we decided to choose 'Health Challenges in Asia in the New Millennium' as our theme because as Catholic Doctors our faith will be challenged by the new technological advances that are taking place in medicine e.g. genetic engineering, reproductive technology, etc. Ethical dilemmas posed by these new technologies and the Catholic response to these health challenges will be discussed in detail so that we can defend our religion wherever such questions arise.
As health care workers we must not forget what Jesus said in John 10. 10 - "I have come in order that you might have life-life in all its fullness". The theme is also broad based so that issues like medical and other problems of ageing, care and rehabilitation of drug addicts and the role of Catholic hospital Associations in the new millennium, etc. can be discussed and solutions found.
We hope that you will enjoy your stay here and participate actively in the Congress to be enriched in christian values of the healing profession. Let us remain friends forever and please keep in touch. May the Holy Spirit descend upon us all at the Congress and guide us in our deliberations so that we will be worthy 'Ministers of Life'
Finally, 1 wish to record my thanks to members of the organising committee for their hard work to make the congress a success.
Datin Dr. Leela Menon
President, Catholic Doctor's Association of MalaysiaIt is my pleasure and privilege to extend a warm and cordial welcome to all our distinguished guests, delegates, and participants to the 12th Congress of Asian Federation of Catholic Medical Associations and to greet you all in the time honoured Malaysian fashion "Selamat Datang."
The Catholic Doctor's Association of Malaysia has been honoured with the opportunity to organize this Congress: the first in the new millennium. The organizing committee has done its best to give you a very comprehensive scientific and cultural programme. We have been heartened to note that the spirit. of Asean has prevailed and we have participants from these countries in spite of the difficulties they are facing in these nations.
On behalf of the Catholic Doctor's Association of Malaysia 1 wish you all a pleasant and perhaps an extended stay in Kuala-Lumpur and hope that this Congress will give all of you an opportunity to renew old friendships and build new bridges.
Pr Yong-Whee Bahk, MD, PhD
President of AFCMADear Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen,
On -behalf of the officers of the Asian Federation of Catholic Medical Associations, let me take up this rare jubilant occasion to extend my warmest welcome to all of you who gather here with hope and good will to participate in this meaningful Congress of our Federation in Kuala Lumpur. This congress blessedly holds in the year of grand jubilee, which is also the initial year of the twenty-first century and third millennium. I would consider that it is something more than just a sheer coincidence.
We, Asians, have just valiantly stood out of the dark and bitter tunnel of IMF crisis. It was indeed a kind of crisis which was unfamiliar in this part of unpolluted world, where once money and material were not a central concern of life of many. However, knowingly and unknowingly and intentionally and unintentionally, we were put amid the turmoil. To us, this would mean a cross to bear. And, our faith whispers that it be borne in the right way.
The theme of the 12th Congress is "Health Challenges in Asia in the New Millennium." The theme has been adopted so that we all will discuss in depth the number of problems that current medicine faces in utterly fast moving and relentlessly changing socioeconomic situations. In particular, we will think about ageing of ever increasing number of population and medical care systems thereof, ethical dilemmas posed by money-first, commercialistic technologies, covetous medical manipulations of human reproduction, and several other topics which are all so dear and important to us, Catholic health workers in the new era.
As you may foresee and agree, these topics will certainly compose the major challenges that we shall face in the years to come in the new century and millennium. Thus, it is the time for us to devote ourselves and be prepared to sagaciously tackle with these problems in the light of holy Church's teaching.
Admittedly, Catholic Church is not a majority in most Asian countries. Nevertheless, the Gospel tells us that a great tree with rich foliage sprouts from a small seed. We are small seed and yeast. We are light and salt. Who else? Faith, devotion and deeds are the keys to the kingdom of eternity. What else?
1 sincerely hope that, at the end of this important meeting of ours in Kuala Lumpur, we will be able to come up with determined ways of coping with new, imminent challenges under the care and guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Lastly, 1 want you all to join me in thanking the Local Organising Committee and Malaysian friends headed by Dr. Freddie Loh for their devotion to the preparation of this Congress.
Sincerely yours in Christ.
Pr Gian Luigi Gigli, MD
President of FIAMCDear Friends.
It is for me a great honour to welcome you on behalf of the International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations, on the occasion of the 12th Congress of AFCMA.
In the very middle of the year of the Great jubilee, you came to Kuala Lumpur to discuss the health challenges that we are facing in Asia at the beginning of the new Millennium.
In the immense Asian Continent, Catholics are certainly a minority, sometimes oppressed, but they are certainly an important minority, able to express a prophetic presence, despite distances, difficulties and contrasts.
In addition to the difficulties, even in this Continent of great spiritual traditions, individualism, secularisation, consumerism and practical materialism begin to challenge the light of the of Christian witnesses.
The Congress will address some of the crucial points of discussion in our professional lives: ethical dilemmas posed by new technologies, access to health care and financial implications, demographic changes and ageing, artificial reproductive technology, drug addictions. Other challenges could have been included in the program, if more time would have been available, such as the invasion of alternative medicines, the request of a freedom of choice by patients about treatments, the end of a relationship between patient and doctor based on mutual trust.
These and other challenges touch the core of our Christian witness, since, as lay members of our Church, we are called to be present in the middle of our profession, trying to change structures and behavious, so that they can become a clearer image of the healing love of Christ.
However, without a renewal of our faith and a stronger participation to the life of the Church, we have nothing, special to say to our patients and colleagues.
The core of our witness remains our ability to love Christ and to follow Him, not as an idea, but in the real body that He has today, the body of His Church.
The Jubilee is a special opportunity of personal renewal. It calls us to confess our faith and to change our life. It invites us to rediscover Christ alive in the prayer and to be engaged in the reality of our profession, at the cultural level, in the gratuity of charitable activities and in social and political action.Our Associations of Catholic Doctors must become, more and more, a strong support to live our faith. On behalf of the entire International Federation, that on the basis of a precise mission conferred by the Church, co-ordinates the work of the single Associations, I would like to thank AFCMA for the important help it has been giving to FIAMC on the Asian Continent.
AFCMA is an important part of FIAMC, whose first President, Dr. Alimurung, was coming from ASIA, from Philippines. Next Congress of FIAMC, the 21 st of its history, will take place in Asia, in Seoul. I would like to thank all of you for what you are doing to help catholic doctors to live their faith and to witness Christ among patients, colleagues and other health workers. 1 would also like to encourage you to do even more, inventing new and more effective modalities of presence in medical profession, in teaching, in research, with a spirit of communion and service to those in need.
May God help us and bless our efforts.
Most Rev. Anthony Soter Fernandez
Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur
528 Jalan Bukit Nanas, 50250 Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaGreetings to you in the Lord.
1 am pleased to know that the Catholic Doctors' Association of Malaysia is organising the 12th Asian Federation of Catholic Medical Associations Congress in Kuala Lumpur from 12th - 15th July 2000.
I notice that the Scientific Program, among other major themes, has the "Catholic Response to Health Challenges" as one of them.
I consider it a great privilege and also a grave responsibility for the Catholic Doctors' Association of Malaysia. It is a sure sign of the hope the Asian Federation of Catholic Medical Associations have placed in you. Moreover, it is the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000!
Today, as we celebrate the Jubilee of Health Care Workers, we are encouraged by the message of Pope John Paul II who says, "Sharing in the joys and hopes, sorrows and anxieties of the People of every age, the Church has constantly accompanied and sustained humanity in its struggle against pain and its commitment to improve health" and "called to continue Jesus' mission, the Church must seek to promote a full and ordered life for everyone".
With my prayerful support in your endeavours for the success of the Congress.
What is AFCMA?The idea of forming an Asian Federation of Catholic Medical Associations (AFCMA) was first raised at the 8th World Congress of the International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations (FIAMC) in Brussels in 1958. Its chief proponents were Dr Mariano Alimurung of the Philippines, Dr Yasuro Anno of Japan and Dr Ly-Trung Dung of Vietnam.
The AFCMA aims to coordinate the efforts of Catholic Medical Associations in the study and spread of Christian principles throughout the medical profession and to encourage the development of Catholic Medical Associations in all Asian countries.
Its first Congress was held in Manila in 1960, after which the Federation convened every second year, with the 2nd Congress held in Saigon in 1962 and the 3rd Congress in Bombay in 1964. Thereafter, its meetings took place every fourth year, serving as an interim regional assembly which alternated with the FIAMC World Congress. The 4th Congress was held in Tokyo in 1968, followed by Bangkok (1972), Hong Kong (1976), Seoul (1980), Manila (1984), Nagasaki (1988) and Bangkok (1992), with the last Congress in Singapore being the 11th (1996). As of 1996, there were 11 member countries: Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Taiwan), Singapore, and Thailand.
Dr Yong Whee Bahk of Korea is currently the President of AFCMA for the four year term between 1996 and 2000. The Board's two Vice-Presidents are Dr Ian Snodgrass of Singapore and Dr Esperanza Rivera of the Philippines. Korean Dr Kwang-ho Meng holds the post of Secretary General while the three Honorary Presidents are Dr Yasuro Anno of Japan, Dr Kyu Sang Cho of Korea and Dr Remedios Arellano of the Philippines. Last but not least is Reverend Nicholas Dok Pil Chang of Korea who serves as Ecclesiastical Advisor.
