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The Bloemfontein Branch of SA HEART had a very rewarding year in 2006/2007. We organised and presented the 2006 SA HEART Congress in Somerset-West. Over 900 delegates attended the Congress inclusive of an extensive international contingent. Integrating Cardiac Care was our theme and we hope that we succeeded in facilitating discussion between adult and pediatric cardiologists and cardiac surgeons. Hopefully this will set the trend for future Congresses and co-operation between the different sub-specialties.
The Congress was also very profitable, raising in excess of one million rand for SA HEART after the Bloemfontein Branch fees were deducted.
We are concerned that the SIG and Branch rotation as regards Congress organisation and distribution of monies might become a worsening problem in future and would urge the SA HEART EXCO to carefully re-evaluate the present structures.
We successfully continued to have our weekly Journal Club meeting at the Medical Faculty. It was well attended at least by the academic doctors. A multi-disciplinary program involving disciplines like infectious disease, nephrology and hematology, in between cardiology and cardiac surgery journal discussions spiced up the program.
The Branch had its AGM on 24 October 2007 and a new Committee was elected with Dr Nico van der Merwe as the incoming President. Congratulations to him and his committee.
The new committee is set to involve the paramedical, nursing and broader medical community involved in cardiac care in Central South Africa in its term. Good luck with all your efforts.
Prof Francis E Smit
President: Bloemfontein Branch
- The Secretarial duties have largely been taken over and handled by Dr Lichtenberg, since Dr Faadiel Essop, who was elected secretary in 2006, has been non-contactable, having moved from the University of Cape Town and, as such, has been inactive in this role. Prof Bongani Mayosi has also been most helpful in an advisory capacity.
- The Society hosted a single academic function in March at the UCT Medical School, which was unfortunately very poorly attended (only 4 SA Heart members attended). On the basis of this, the President of the Branch has made the decision not to plan any further functions of this nature.
- The President and the Treasurer have been involved in the commencement of the organization of the annual SA Heart Congress for 2008. The following steps have been taken thus far:
- Londocor, the company tasked with the successful organistaion of the last two SA Heart congresses, has been contracted to do the bulk of the planning and logistics for the 2008 congress. This was done with the sanction of the National Executive of SA Heart.
- The Wild Coast Sun has been chosen and booked as the venue for the meeting.
- The dates for the meeting will be from 2 to 5 November 2008.
- The first annual Louis Vogelpoel Travelling Scholarship Award was awarded to Dr Sandrine Lecour of the Hatter Institute at UCT.
Prof Johan Brink, President Cape Town Branch
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JOHANNESBURG
BRANCH
The Johannesburg branch of SA Heart was active in 2007. Office bearers were:
Dr Eric Klug – President,
Dr David Jankelow – Treasurer,
Dr A Cilliers – Secretary
Committee: Dr D Smith, Prof K Sliwa, Dr H Mamorare, Prof P Manga, Dr A Thornton
This was the first year for over 2 decades that Dr E Gale was not the treasurer of the Johannesburg branch. We have missed him and we also send our heartfelt condolences following the passing of his dear wife, Olga. David has filled his shoes excellently.
The branch has held 3 meetings, and the AGM will be held on 10 November 2007, with Professor Helen Laburn, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, Wits University being the guest speaker.
The first meeting, and best attended!, held on 3rd March was dedicated to the issues we face with the health funders. Discovery, Oxygen, Spectramed and Medihelp as well as BHF all contributed as well as Colin Schamroth, David Jankelow, Darryl Smith, Jeff King, Len Steingo and Anthony Stanley. The meeting was held in an excellent spirit and it proved to be a springboard to subsequent meetings relating to funding issues. Overall, a more respectful relationship has been developed and the issues raised continue to be discussed.
The second meeting was arranged to allow fellows in adult, paediatric and cardio-thoracic to present interesting cases. Dr J Vorster, a fellow in adult cardiology at the Johannesburg Hospital won the award for best presentation – “Aortic Coarctation”. Dr L Pepeta from Baragwanath Paediatrics was second – “A rare case of anomalous pulmonary artery” and Dr Muhammad Farooq of Cardio-Thoracics was third discussing “Iatrogenic Intramural Aortic Haematoma”. The presentations were excellent and contributed to a rewarding meeting.
A well attended meeting on 15 September was held with 2 discussants (Dr R Kleinloog, Dr F Hellig) leading a very interesting and relevant session revolving around contentious issues surrounding coronary artery bypass surgery and percutaneous coronary intervention. Essentially it was agreed that allocating patient therapy by clinical judgment is a collaborative decision making process and should involve the cardiologists, patient and cardio-thoracic surgeon, where relevant. The results from the SA Heart database will be helpful in assessing the local situation.
Overall, the Johannesburg Branch remains vibrant, but we still are not managing to attract a healthy cross section of all our members to meetings. It remains a disappointment as Industry organized talks often get larger audiences.
Novartis has been a major supporter of the branch and has sponsored all the 4 meetings this year as in previous years. We are most grateful and hope they continue with their commitment.
Many thanks to the Committee.
Dr Eric Klug
President, Johannesburg Branch
KWAZULU -
NATAL BRANCH
Chairman: AS Mitha,
Treasurer: JJ Patel
The Durban branch held two meetings over the past year. The first meeting was on dual-chamber pacing and was addressed by Prof AO from Groote Schuur Hospital. At the second occasion, a talk on medical ethics was given by Prof McQuoid Mason from the Law Faculty at UKZN. Both meetings were well attended by local members.
Sajidah Khan
Secretary
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PRETORIA BRANCH
During 2007 our Academic Activities dwindled down to a few meetings due to lack of interest, commitment and time. At our first meeting in January 2007 we were privileged to have Prof Guy Richards form Johannesburg talking to us on Ventilating the Cardiac patient. Wine tasting followed after the case discussions. The second meeting was held at Mabelingwe with 9 colleagues attending the Saturday Clinical Discussions with Prof James Ker as our guest. The last meeting was again a Saturday meeting at a guest house in Pretoria were we had the opportunity to also listen to Dr Marlice van Wyk on Inotropic Therapy, Dr Hendrik van Rensburg on practical ICD management and decisions, Dr James Ker on Pharmacological adverse effects on the cardiovascular system. After Dr Jeff King discussed his concerns re third party (medical aids) imbursement strategies this meeting was closed with some Clinical Discussions. We plan to restart our monthly Journal Club Meetings in 2008 and limit the clinical discussions to 3-4 during the year.
Dr Adriaan Snyders, Chairperson
TYGERBERG BRANCH
Branch is dormant, nothing to report.
Go to the Branches home page.
AGM 2007 Reports menu.
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