Annual Report 2006
Since last meeting in Glasgow in
2006, the planning was going on for a joint meeting with the ‘WPA
section of psychiatry in developing countries’ and ‘South Asia
Forum on Mental Health and psychiatry’. The details finalized by
the General Secretary of SAFMH, Dr. Afzal Javed and Chairman Dr.
Deva are really ambitious. This international Psychiatric
Conference is schedule from 15th to 19th
February 2007, at Lahore, Pakistan. Beside the delegates from three
regions of the BIA, the delegates from Asian countries expected are
from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Philippines, Bhutan, Malaysia,
Brunei and Japan.
The proposed session of
the Royal College is on 17th February. Participation of
major office bearers of the Royal College including Prof. Sheila
Hollins and Prof. Hamid Ghodse has been confirmed.
The first session is in
the morning and second in the afternoon (2:00 pm – 5:00 pm). We
will also hold a meeting of the executive committee of the South
Asia Division to discuss proposals for meaningful activities in the
region. This is important because members in the region have not
yet been motivated to organise programmes in collaboration with the
College to promote teaching, training and research activities.
In this year’s budget
(attached) we are also including a meeting of the South Asia
Division in Dhaka, Bangladesh. This is proposed to be first meeting
and it is intended to hold such annual meeting in each of the South
Asia Division. Earlier similar meeting was held in Colombo,
courtesy of South Asia Forum in 2005. Minimum support from the
College has been requested (two delegates from each country of the
region and one delegate from BIA). The other expenses will be
raised by the organizers. We expect to attract sizeable numbers of
the College members from the region. This meeting is also
importance because the earlier meeting with the Pakistan
Psychiatric Society in December, 2006 could not materialize.
This is to reiterate that
South Asia Division need to chalk out draw a programme as to how we
can draw from the experience of the College in CME programmes
(refresher courses for GP) and collaborative research and scholar
exchange programmes.
Prof. S. Haroon Ahmed