Annals of Burns and Fire Disasters
- vol. XVIII - n. 1 - March 2005
MBC NEWS
President's Report 2002-2004
It is with particular pleasure this year that I open this 13th Meeting of the MBC and welcome you all to the General Assembly.
I say particular, as 2004 marks the 21st year of our activities - a milestone of adulthood and maturity by any standards. But it is not simply on the accumulation of years that we can be proud. Indeed, since 1983, when a dreamy group of us came together, we have grown and constantly expanded at all levels - organizational, scientific, operational, research and educational. And to take only the latter feature, we have provided more than one hundred (100) scholarships to promising surgeons and health personnel, a record of pride for any organization. All these positive activities have been duly rewarded by official support, financial aid, extended relations and international recognition.
With these remarkable achievements of your organization, it is therefore again my pleasant duty to give you a brief report, and some personal reflexions, on the activities of the MBC for the period 2002-2004. I shall limit myself to highlights, as a more detailed account will be given by our untiring Secretary General, whose report I commend to your approval.
World Health Organization
As the symbol of Who on this letterhead attests, the MBC is a fully active scientific organization within the network of WHO Collaborating Centres. Besides this function, the MBC also the Coordinating Office for all the emergency/humanitarian Collaborating Centres, a service much appreciated by WHO, and a source of pride for us.
Our “Annals” carry The WHO Page, a regular feature that provides international health information to readers who would not otherwise have access.
The WHO Emergency Library kit carries our President’s Dictionary of Disaster Medicine as standard reference for disaster management.
Also, among the 10 Scholarships that MBC provides annually, two are earmarked as WHO/MBC scholarships.
United Nations
The MBC is officially accredited Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. Our organization is the only professional body concerned with burns science and fire disasters in the world with such UN accreditation; and we take this distinction very seriously.
MBC has also become an institutional member of ACUNS - the Academic Council on the United Nations System, and has contributed to its congress in 2004.
The European Union
The MBC already had professional ties with the predecessor of the EU, the European Commission. We now participate in the EU BurNet programme and manage the EUMEDIS project - an activity which we have won against stiff international competition. Under MBC leadership 17 Euro-Mediterranean countries are interlinked through high-tech communications to ensure collective performance and high standards in burns and fire management and training. This in generously funded by the EU, and we are accountable for it.
International Association for Humanitarian Medicine Brock Chisholm
Although independent of the MBC, this high-level humanitarian organization has close ties with it, and several members serve jointly on both organizations. IAHM is fortunate to have solid funding, commensurate with its ideals and activities, as it enjoys much respect and recognition for its valuable work. It has created the imaginative “World Open Hospital” network, within which MBC is operationally active.
International Federation of Surgical Colleges
Since 1992 the MBC has been a Specialty Member of this prestigious surgical body. We provide two IFSC/MBC Scholarships annually to young deserving surgeons. The MBC has twice hosted the IFSC Executive at its Headquarters in Palermo. The President is Secretary General of the IFSC.
Other international relations
Besides this (non-exhaustive) list of scientific and organizational relations mentioned above, the MBC maintains close relations with national and international bodies concerned with burns, reconstructive surgery, fire disasters and humanitarian work, such as the Sociéte Française pour l’Etude et la Recherche des Brûlures, the Pan-Arab Society of Plastic, Reconstructive and Burn Surgeons, the Giuseppe Whitaker Foundation and many others. For our 2004 General Assembly we are the guests of the Cyprus
Society of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery, and I take this opportunity to thank it for receiving us on this historically aesthetic island of Aphrodite.
Conflicts, disasters and humanitarian service
The last few years have seen an escalation of conflicts, insecurity and man-made disasters, which have somewhat curtailed our movements but, on the other hand, have given us opportunities to serve in emergencies and humanitarian situations.
On behalf of WHO the MBC sent burn and fire experts to Nigeria, where a disastrous fire due to kerosene explosion had occurred, causing very high mortality and morbidity.
In Iraq, at the height of the war no injured patient or severely ill person was allowed by the military to go out for treatment. The MBC facility in Palermo Civic Hospital and the Graz University Hospital were the first and only institutions to receive and treat such patients, through the World Open Hospital (WOH) network of IAHM and its affiliates. A sign of international recognition of our standing.
Publications
The Annals of Burns and Fire Disasters, official organ of the MBC is now in its 17th volume and appears regularly as a quarterly with an average run of 3300 copies per issue, which is no mean feat. It carries a regular feature, “The WHO Page”, much appreciated by WHO and by our readers.
The journal also carries, as piggy-back supplement, the Journal of Humanitarian Medicine, which is the organ of the International Association for Humanitarian Medicine, the only such journal in this field.
Honours
Within our growing membership and international presence, several individuals and leaders of the MBC have been receiving honorific and academic accolades. This reflects not only on the personal worth of our members but also on the value of MBC corporately.
I congratulate all those so honoured. In our turn, we honour the memory of Johnny with the MBC International J. Ioannovich Award.
Finance
Our organization is fortunate in having a sound budgetary base which shows that donors appreciate the quality of our work, the value of our mission, and the openness of our organization. Thus the generous financing, by statutory law, of the MBC by the Italian and Sicilian Regional governments assures our finances on a continuing base and makes our programming stronger and more real. Our other scientific activities are also solidly financed, but these do not happen just automatically; they are the fruits of serious planning, valid work and wise competition for funds. Thus the European Union provides the funds for the extensive EUMEDIS programme. Of course we are answerable and responsible for all our expenditures and activities. The expression of confidence by the donor agencies imposes upon the MBC more rigour and discipline, which we do not shun.
Goodbye
As we celebrate our 21st year, I have decided that the time has come for me to thank you all, individually and through your committees and groups, for the confidence, support, encouragement and friendship extended unstintingly over these many years, and to pass the reins to new hand, new minds, and new dreams. A new, younger team should now take the lead and carry us forward. So with much emotion and warmest remembrances I say Goodbye to you all, and welcome the new team with hopes and assurance. I am sure you will give it as much support and consideration as you have reserved for me.
Best wishes, then, for “une bonne continuation”, and many, many, thanks.
S. William Gunn
MD, MS, FRCSC, DSc (Hon)
President
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