June is the month for HKMA
Council Election. You would probably
have received the election materials. Please
remember to return your ballot paper before July 8. 2010 is the year for the election of HKMA
President, which is held every two years. Results of election will be announced during
the Annual General Meeting on July 22. It
is the tradition that composition of committees will be reviewed with the
change of President. So this might be
the last issue for me to be writing as the Editor of the News. In fact my three-year term for Council Member
will also end this year. If I were not
re-elected, this would be the end of my six years’ service as Council Member for
HKMA. It is my habit to have a brief
review.
Two years ago, my first editorial
made an analogy of the News to a bridge, providing a two-way flow of
information between the HKMA Council and our members. I also showed a photo of the Treetop Walkway
in Kew Gardens of London, which is an 18-meter high footbridge allowing
visitors to view the treetops. This was
the function that I meant to emphasize: to view things from a different angle. In these two years, the good traditions of the
News had been continued, while some new features were added. There had been establishment of the editor@hkma.org for easier communication
between the editorial board and members, ensuring the function of
bi-directional flow of information. There
had been the interview sessions, looking from a different angle at the Secretary
for Justice, our Legco Councilor, the Dean of Medical School, past presidents
of different organizations, young doctors and medical students. There had also been the photo corner featuring
fantastic pictures from our members. Apart
from these changes, I hope you might notice that the News have been reaching
you punctually, on or before the 25th day of each month. Moreover, the quality of the print has
improved. The number of pages has also
been increasing for the enriched contents and the increased flow of
information.
This time, at the end of my term,
I paid a visit to another Continent. I
left behind the Tower Bridge, the London Bridge, the Millennium Bridge and the
Kew Treetop Walkway. I found a good site
and took a good look at the Golden Gate Bridge. The Golden Gate Bridge
connects the city of San Francisco to Marin County. It is the most internationally recognized
symbol of San Francisco. When talking
about San Francisco, people will automatically think of the Gold Gate Bridge, and vice versa. The bridge is very accommodative
for passengers. It has six lanes for vehicles,
as well as wide pavements for foot traffic and cyclists. As the bridge is the only road to exit San
Francisco to the northern part, traffic is always busy. I was amazed when I first
observed the flexibility of the bridge. There
are altogether six lanes for vehicles. In
order to conform to traffic patterns, the median markers between the lanes are not fixed.
During my visit, four of the six lanes ran
northbound on weekday afternoons. On the
contrary, four lanes ran southbound in the evening after a long weekend holiday.
The measures are very appreciative, as they allow
a pathway to have great flexibility. The features of the Golden Gate Bridge are actually my visions of the News. I hope the Association
and the News are joined at the hip. While
continue serving the functions as a bridge, I wish the News will provide larger
flow of information and greater flexibility.
A review of my work cannot leave
without reviewing the “From the Editor” column. Before I became the Editor two years ago, and
in fact before I became a Council Member six years ago, I have been submitting
articles to the News. Some of you might
be able to recall some of my interesting stories in Chinese (and I like “Advices
for Family Doctors” and “Signature version” most). Having a quick glance through the twenty odd
editorials, most of them were on events happened on that particular month: Legco
Election, Lehman Brothers, Healthcare Reform, melamine-tainted milk, Obama, increase
intake of medical students, contaminated and unlicensed medications, H1N1,
school drug tests… Another feature
noticed was that more than half of the editorials touched on medico-legal
issues and Medical Council cases. Afterall,
I have a degree in law and a master degree in medical law. But it was not only my own interest and my
training that made me write on these issues. I thought that they were important and I had
the duty to bring to readers’ attention of the cases, and of my views on them. These included the doctor with inappropriate
personal contact with his patient, the advertising doctor, the “honest but
mistaken belief” in a doctor who practiced without registration, the indecent
assault at A&E case, the celestamine case and the laboratory tests equal to
rebate in disguise case. It was the
laboratory tests equal to rebate in disguise case that was written on most. A detailed analysis spanned three pages in the
September 09 issue, followed by another article in the May 10 issue after a letter
from the Chairperson of the Medical Council expressing her personal opinions on
the subject matter. I hoped that these
articles did not bore our readers. But
as a Council Member of the Medical Council, I felt the duty to share my
opinions with members on this important decision which would affect most, if
not all, doctors in private practice. I
am very glad that my expressed opinions are shared and support by many members,
including members from the Medical Council and its committees. I am expecting good news from the Medical
Council concerning the clarification of the decision.
(Source: HKMA News June 2010)
