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Minutes of Annual General Meeting held at the BergRhythms Congress at the Champagne Castle Sports Resort at 17:15 on the 18th October 2005.
Present as per the Attendance Register
Dr C Schamroth
Dr L Steingo
Dr R Jardine
Prof A Doubell
Prof R Scott-Millar
Apologies
Prof A Mitha
Prof DP Naidoo
Mr A Denoon
Dr C Schamroth welcomed everyone.
Minutes of the AGM 2004 were accepted. Proposed P Manga, seconded E Klug.
Matters from the last minutes: Nothing was brought up.
President’s Report
Colin Schamroth read the report. He praised Exco for their hard work during the year and thanked them for their support.
Several issues of contention were brought up viz,
- CVJSA
Mention was made of the right of reply being denied by the editor of CVJSA. Colin Schamroth expressed disappointment in the outcome of negotiations with the CVJSA.
- SA Heart Journal
The President thanked Prof A Doubell for the effort put into this venture and congratulated him on the quality of the first issue.
- Transformation
Varying interpretations of the rate of change are present in the membership, with some people feeling it was too fast and others that it was too slow. The plan for positive transformation was on track. Partly evidenced by the record number of nominations received this year for various positions on Exco.
- Affiliation with ESC
- PASCAR. South African Heart association was actively involved in support of PASCAR.
- Script pad project was moving along quite well.
- The Cathlab registry has been launched and copies are available at the BergRhythm meeting.
- The newsletter had received positive feedback and the President thanked Dr A Snyders for his contribution.
Treasurer’s Report
Presented by Dr R Jardine.
- Question raised by Prof A Doubell regarding the number of full members (188 full members).
- Dr R Kleinloog wanted to know where the money for the cath lab registry had come from. Answered that it came from the South African Heart Association.
- It was decided that the membership fees should stay the same.
Private Practice Committee
Presented by Dr A Stanley. Published with the agenda. There were no questions.
Fulltime Practice Committee
Presented as published - Prof B Mayosi mentioned that the process of registration of foreign graduates was to be fast tracked but emphasized that was with regard to filling posts in the public sector. The same would not apply to the private sector applications. This was hoped to reverse the brain drain.
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Ethics and Guidelines
Presented and accepted.
Education
Presented by Prof R Scott-Millar
- It was felt that all awards should go through Exco.
- The examination and logbooks were a bit of a problem but this was being addressed with the College of Medicine.
- Prof R Scott-Millar thanked the sub committee and announced that he would not be available for re-election.
Acceptance of Special Committees
Accepted. Proposed Dr A Dalby. Seconded Prof B Mayosi.
Report back from Special Interest groups
- LASSA
- Nuclear Medicine Group
- CASSA
- Paediatric Group
- SASCI
Report back from branches
All branches reported back. The Bloemfontein group will organize the next meeting. Prof F Smit and
Dr N van der Merwe.
Proposals
- A new special interest group the South African Heart Failure Group was proposed by Prof K Sliwa and seconded by Prof B Mayosi. No votes against.
- Certain constitutional changes needed adjustment e.g. to address issues around the cath lab registry and the editor of the SA Heart Journal should be on Exco.
- There are still problems regarding funding to various special interest groups and this needed to be finalized to ensure smooth running of the society.
- The issue of the Society of Cardiothoracic Surgeons was then raised. In essence this group had decided to withdraw from membership of the South African Heart Association for reasons which appeared confused but in essence the following points were made -
- SOCTS are unhappy about the distribution of funds to the special interest groups in general and to themselves in particular.
- Some of their members are primarily thoracic surgeons and feel they do not need to be full members of South African Heart Association as well. Their allegiance may lie more comfortably with the Pulmonology Society. The number of surgeons involved is not clear but appears to be a small number.
- The surgeons proposed that the split be made but surgeons who wished to remain in the South African Heart Association be allowed to do so. The president felt this was agreeable but it would be as individual members unless a further SIG was proposed.
- Dr Chris Hugo Hamman said that although the paediatric cardiology and paediatric cardiothoracic surgeons constituted a small group, they were responsible in a broad sense for 50% of the population (bearing in mind the number of cardiac conditions per 100,000 is much lower). He also stated that the paediatric group had always made a meaningful contribution to the annual South African Heart Association meeting. The recently published document helped to define the relationship between SIGs and the parent association especially with regard with to income stream.
- All standing committees should have at least one member from each special interest group. This would make the standing committees pretty big. Dr A Stanley felt that the SIGs should report in to the standing committee from the own committees to increase the stream of information. Prof A Doubell thought that the larger standing committees would be better.
- The standing committee would elect a chairperson and report back to Erika Dau.
General Points
Dr A Dalby informed the meeting that all clinical trialists must have a dispensing license. Currently approved trials are not affected. He also pointed out that ESC guidelines are now available and we need to decide how they should be published. Prof A Doubell said they needed to be published unchanged and then local interpretation should be appended.
The new president Dr L Steingo was then welcomed and the meeting handed over to him. Dr L Steingo thanked Dr C Schamroth and welcomed everyone. He said he was sure the year would be productive and was happy to take over the reigns of such a vibrant and progressive society. He also welcomed the opportunity to lead the Society in the ever changing South African environment.
He then closed the meeting.
A Stanley
Secretary
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