Medic Africa `95: exhibition and meetings (pictures now available)Medic Africa was held this year in South Africa for the first time, at Gallagher Estate in Midrand, between Johannesburg and Pretoria. The event was organised and hosted by FSG Communications. The health technology exhibition ran from 3-6 April, and attracted more than 100 national and international exhibitors. In addition, a number of meetings were held, covering a wide range of topics. These included meetings on health information systems, oral health, quality in healthcare, and management of malaria, as well as the following, which may be of more interest to IFMBE News readers. AFTH/WHO Consultation on Training of Human Resources for Health Care Equipment Management in Sub-Saharan Africa, 3 April 1995 The objective of the meeting was to discuss both present and future training needs and to perform an audit of training facilities catering for the Sub-Saharan region. Those attending included representatives from ministries of health and training institutions in the region, and other stakeholders. It will be the task of a working group nominated at the meeting to consolidate the proceedings and to formulate a plan of action which will be incorporated into the wider plan for healthcare technical services (see below). It was emphasised that co-ordination of the process must take place from within the region, with the AFTH (African Federation for Technology in Healthcare) as the main management vehicle. Annual Conference of BESSA (Biomedical Engineering Society of South Africa) and SAACE (South African Association for Clinical Engineering), 4 April 1995 The Conferences commenced with a joint opening session. The keynote address was delivered by Dr. Janie Fouke, President of the IEEE-EMBS. This was followed by addresses from Dr. Andrei Issakov (WHO) and Professor Yunkap Kwankam (AFTH), both of whom have made major contributions to furthering the cause of health technology and health technology professionals in the African region. The BESSA Conference continued with scientific paper sessions and a seminar on the Role of Biomedical Engineering in Africa. The SAACE Conference continued with a theme paper session with a South African focus, during which issues of technology management in the private sector, training opportunities and challenges, and unionisation of CE were addressed. This was followed by a seminar on Registration and Certification Issues for Clinical Engineering Professionals in South Africa, and a free paper session. The day was concluded with the official opening of Medic Africa `95. Inaugural General Assembly of the AFTH (African Federation for Technology in Healthcare), 5 April 1995 This meeting included the presentation and adoption of the AFTH Constitution and By-Laws, and the election of office-bearers and the Executive Council. The results of the officers' election were as follows:
These officers will serve for a three-year term. The following were elected as members-at-large of the Executive Council:
to serve for five years or two terms.
for three years or one term. The newly elected Executive Council held its first meeting on 6 April 1995, at which provisional committee structures were discussed and a draft plan of action formulated. AFTH/MRC Regional Workshop on Health Care Technical Services, 5-6 April 1995 This meeting was a follow-up to the Workshop on Health Care Technology in the Sub-Saharan Region held in Somerset West, South Africa, in April 1994. At that meeting, five themes had been addressed, one of which was clinical engineering or `health care technical services' (HCTS). It was felt that for this area specifically a plan of action was needed to implement the decisions taken at the Somerset West meeting, as well as to exploit the opportunity provided by Resolution AFR/RC44/R15 on Selection and Development of Health Technologies taken at the meeting of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa, which was held in Brazzaville in September 1994. Ten African countries, all from the Sub-Saharan region, were represented at the Workshop, in addition to the WHO. Discussion groups were established on the first day of the workshop for the following topics: Policy Issues and Organisational Structure, Technology Assessment and Procurement Strategies, Human Resource Development, and Maintenance and Operations Management. `Report backs' were presented and discussed during a plenary session on the second day, with the incorporation of output from the AFTH/WHO Training Consultation held earlier. It was also agreed that Information Systems were an important consideration for each of these areas and needed to be addressed as such. A Working Group comprising representatives of each of the discussion groups was nominated. Its task will be to produce the draft action plan; the target date is September 1995. The draft plan will then be circulated to other stakeholders for their input, and it is hoped that a final action plan will be ready by early 1996. Ownership of the plan will be transferred to the AFTH, which will be responsible, with the assistance of the WHO, for distribution and follow-up activities in the region. For more information contact Mladen Poluta at the Department of Biomedical Engineering, UCT Medical School, Observatory 7925, South Africa; tel. +27 21 406 6545; fax. +27 21 448 3291; email. poluta@anat.uct.ac.za Accompanying photographs for this report. | ||