Croatian Medical & Biological Engineering SocietyGeneral Assembly and Awards Ceremony in December 2004The General Assembly of the Croatian Medical and Biological Engineering Society (CROMBES) was held on December 9, 2004 at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of Zagreb. Around 40 delegates and guests participated in the meeting. The Assembly was followed by the Awards Ceremony and a small wine and cheese party. Scientific and Professional Activities
Prof. Stanko Tonkovic, CROMBES President, reported on numerous activities of the Society in the period from the Assembly in 2003
to date. The Society organised or co-organised several workshops, among them: The CROMBES president informed the General Assembly that the European Alliance for Medical and Biological Engineering and Science - EAMBES - was officially registered and that the CROMBES application for membership has been approved. He also reported that new EAMBES Officers and Council members were elected. Professor Ratko Magjarevic, IFMBE Secretary General and IFMBE News Editor, successfully promoted CROMBES and its activities. The Society established important contacts with several international institutions such as the College of Medical Physics in Trieste, which enabled two young Croatian scientists to visit this institution. Relations with the Ministry of Health and Other InstitutionsThe Croatian Ministry of Health and WHO continued with the project "Establishing a National Centre for Health Technology Assessment". The project leader is mr.sc. Petar Milicic, a member of CROMBES. President Tonkovic reported with regret that the new Croatian Government abolished the office of a counsellor for medical technology at the Ministry of Health after the elections in 2003. CROMBES was active in the activities of the Croatian Committee for Standardisation, which accepted 26 new standards related to medical equipment. ElectionsThe General Assembly confirmed the election of a new CROMBES Executive Committee and of the CROMBES Supervising Committee. The Executive Committee members who shall serve for the next four years are: Branko Breyer, Bojan Ivancevic, Vladimir Medved, Dubravko Orlic, Stanko Tonkovic, Melita Valentic- Peruzovic and Tomislav Viculin. The General Assembly also confirmed the composition of the Award Committee for the year 2004/05. Activities of the DivisionsThe Chair of the Medical Physics Division reported that the postgraduate course in medical physics has been approved by the University of Zagreb but that there are some problems regarding the status of medical physicists as far as the attitude of the Ministry of Health is concerned. Clinical Engineering Division was working on establishing the quality control measures and protocols in clinical and medical centres as a part of the forthcoming new accreditation procedure for all health institutions. Activities for 2005Most of the activities are ongoing, among them the presentation of Biomedical Engineering in public and scientific circles. Scientific events, like workshops co-organised annually with Zagreb Fair during the Medical Technology Show in May, are one such activity where the society brings together engineering and medical experts and professionals. The Society will continue the promotion of young scientists through organisation of Student Competitions for an annual award for the best university diploma thesis in the field of Biomedical Engineering. The Society will continue to cooperate with the Ministry of Health and with the Croatian Committee for Standardisation. Prof. V. Zanchi from the University of Split will organize a Workshop "Signals and Systems in Human Motion" during the international conference BIOMED 2005 in Innsbruck, Austria in February 2005. The Division for Medical Physics intends to apply for the organisation of the "Second Austrian, Italian, Slovenian and Croatian Medical Physics Meeting" later in 2005. Student Award Ceremony
The Ceremony was dedicated to presenting annual awards for the best university diploma thesis in the field of
Biomedical Engineering. The winner of the first prize was Karin Costas-Mady, from the Faculty of
Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, University of Zagreb, for her diploma thesis "Ergonomics Effort Analysis of
Employees in Medical Care Institution for Elderly People", mentor: Prof. Osman Muftic. The winner of the second prize was
Mario Hrgetic from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of Zagreb, for his thesis
"Dissolved Oxygen Measurement System", mentor: Prof. Mario Cifrek. After the presentation of the prizes, the President of CROMBES,
Prof. Tonkovic, acknowledged the sponsorship of five companies which supported the competition and enabled the prizes:
b4b, BioElektronika, Kardian, Philips-Croatia and
Polimedika.
Prof. dr. Stanko Tonkovic
|