One of the biggest events in the previous weeks was the 2010 FIFA
World Cup. The 19th World Cup started on June 11. For a whole month, the soccer fans were lacking
sleep for sure. I tried not to disturb
my daily life by skipping the late night matches. It was not until the quarter finals; I went
to bed early and woke up in the middle of the night for the matches. As for the venues, this year I had watched the
matches at home, in bars, in karaoke, and even in conference rooms in Japan. There were sixty four matches altogether. What was the most exciting part of the event? It was the unpredictability of the results of
some of the matches. I was
actually writing this article at the very last minute so as to update readers on the latest
results (and of course the hidden reason was that I had
to support my team during these days). The
last game was just over. I felt sorry
for the orange; the bull won the championship at the end.
Another imperative happening in this month was the HKMA Council
Election. As excited as the soccer
matches, the candidates for different posts were very competitive. Seeing that there were two candidates for the
post of President, they had their cabinet nominees, who were fighting for the
posts of Vice President, Honorary Treasurer and Council Member. While door to door canvassing efforts and numbers
of election campaigns had been scheduled within weeks, there was a growing
tension between cabinets. So who would
be the next President finally? We don’t need Paul the Octopus to
tell. By the
time you receive the News, you should have known the answer.
Just about that time, there comes another occasion. The HKMA Annual Charity Concert will be held
on July 31. This year’s concert is an extraordinary
one. Why do I say so? First of all, the year 2010 marks the 90th
Anniversary of the HKMA. The Charity Concert
would certainly be one of the celebration highlights. The next exceptional thing is that the
beneficiary of this charity event is not any benevolent organizations in Hong
Kong. It is the HKMA Beat Drugs Action
Committee (BDAC).
The BDAC was newly formed this
year with the aim of promotion and coordination of beat drugs activities in the
medical profession. In reaction to the
alarming statistics of ever rising numbers of young drug abusers and the
leadership of the Chief Executive, there have been inputs and efforts from
members of the society including doctors. Both the HKMA and individual doctors have been
organizing and taking part in various beat drugs activities with promising
results. However, beating drugs and
helping drug abusers require long term coordinated work with constant review
and input of resources. It is under
these backgrounds that the HKMA sees the need to form a new committee. The BDAC will be looked after by designated
staff to plan, organize, coordinate and review beat drugs activities involving
doctors in order to strengthen the role of the medical professions in the team
work of beating drugs. Coming works of
the BDAC include organizing more beat drugs courses for more attendants;
organizing in-depth hand-on trainings; coordinating and evaluating the project
between the Home Affairs Department and the HKMA Community Networks to help
young drug abusers; piloting the use of group therapies in young drug abusers;
and providing public educations.
Very soon we will be having the
first HKMA Public Education Day. The
“Beat Drug Stars Brighten the Community” (抗毒之星耀社區) will be held on July 25, 2010
(Sunday) at Olympic City II. As the
organizer, we are grateful for having twenty co-organizing and supporting
bodies (including hospital, school, NGOs, partent-teacher associations etc.). There will be on stage performances (such as
lion dance, singing, dancing, talk show, live band, martial arts etc.), medical
booths and game booths. Some of our
members are performers or voluntary workers. You are very welcome to come and support us.
It is appreciative that the HKMA and HKMA Charitable Foundation
greatly support our Committee. The donations
raised for the Concert will be reserved for beat drugs activities organized by
the BDAC. The Committee will fully
utilize its resources and efforts to tackle the youth drug abuses by encouraging
doctor’s engagements.
To give a hand to the young drug abusers, please do support the
BDAC. It’s never too late. Make a donation now!
(Source: HKMA News July 2010)
