Originally scheduled to be held last year in Taipei, Taiwan, the 35th General Assembly and 56th Council Meeting of the Confederation of Medical Associations in Asia and Oceania (CMAAO) was postponed to 2021. However, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and continued restrictions on international travel meant that the annual event had to be held via videoconference.
The Taiwan Medical Association (TMA) hosted the annual CMAAO gathering from 2 to 3 September 2021 over two afternoon sessions. The event was also graced in-person at the local venue by the President and Vice-President of Taiwan, Prof Tsai Ing-wen and Dr Lai Ching-te. Other participants included representatives of national medical associations from Australia, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Representatives from the World Medical Association also attended the event.
SMA was represented by Dr Chong Yeh Woei, Chairperson of CMAAO, and Dr Wong Tien Hua, SMA's CMAAO Councillor. Dr Chong was re-elected as chairperson during the event.
The aptly chosen theme of this year's scientific symposium was "Countermeasures against COVID-19 Including the Situation of the Vaccines". Reports were received from seven member associations including SMA, sharing on the COVID-19 situation in the respective countries, the various governments' strategies to tackle the global pandemic, and the medical associations' contributions to national efforts.
The 18th Taro Takemi Memorial Oration, entitled "Post-SARS Taiwan Medical Care System Reform for the Control of COVID-19" was delivered by Dr Chiu Tai-Yuan, the new president of TMA, and a professor at the College of Medicine, National Taiwan University. The Taro Takemi Oration is named after the Japan Medical Association's former president of 25 years and one of the founding fathers of CMAAO.
It was also decided that the next two CMAAO events would be held in Pakistan in 2022, and Bangladesh in 2023. Hopefully, international travel would be less restrictive by then and delegates from member associations would again be able to gather in person and catch up on the past few years.
Proceedings and copies of the reports, including the usual country updates by member associations, are available on the CMAAO website at https://www.cmaao.org/event/2535/.