President’s Letter 2017
2 January 2017
Dear SASES Members
NEW YEARS GREETINGS 2017
The new year has started and with it SASES is actively back at work hoping to make 2017 another bumper year for the Society.
1. Fellowships
The year will be launched with the online application for all four of the fellowships being offered this year. It is the first time they will be streamlined into one fellowship application with the candidates being given the opportunity to preference the fellowship they would most like to apply for.The membership will be informed the moment it has been loaded and applications are ready for processing.
2. FoSAS
The FoSAS meeting took place in Cape Town on 26 November 2016 at which Prof Eugenio Panieri represented the Society as I had other commitments. We will receive feedback on this at the next Exco meeting in Cape Town on 19 February 2017.
3. Champagne Sports Meeting
The meeting held at the Champagne Sports Resort from 27 to 30 October 2016 was a resounding success with lots of positive feedback from not only the Membership who attended but also the Foreign Delegates who were there and most importantly from the Trade who supported. The meeting for 2017 will be in Port Elizabeth. It will be an ASSA SAGES meeting from 9 through 12 August 2017.
4. Council of Medical Schemes
We have been approached by Michael Klipin to help with submissions to the Council of Medical Schemes as they work through the definitions and remuneration of Prescribed Minimum Benefit conditions. The Hernia Interest Group (HIG) under the umbrella of SASES and headed up by Ravi Oodit and his team will do the submissions on hernias. SASES will be handling the appendicectomy as we have done a lot of work on this already. All Exco members will be asked to submit their CV’s so that the Council of Medical Schemes can choose a committee to sit towards the end of January 2017 to look at all the submissions.
5. Laparoscopic Appendicectomy Pilot Study
You will have received an email towards the end of December 2016 informing you that the pilot study has now run its course. Medscheme is now going to sit down together with SASES and look at the results of the study and see if there is ground to move forward by either expanding the hospitals involved and the medical aids of the Medscheme Group which will join it or whether enough data was made available to possibly move forward and implement laparoscopic appendicectomies. You will be kept informed of progress as and when it occurs.
6. SASES Website
Please continue to actively use the website where you will get updates on Webinars, workshops and the likes. The next Webinar is scheduled for 15 February 2017 and the next Advanced Suturing course at the skills lab at the Red Cross Children’s Hospital for 17 and 18 February 2017.
7. Membership
A Society is only as strong as its membership base. Please continue to encourage newly qualified colleagues to become members of SASES which can be done on line through the SASES website. Wishing you all a very good 2017. Please keep your Exco informed of areas of concern where we can be of help.
Kind regards
Dick Brombacher
President
SASES Exco
SASES EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 2017/2018
PRESIDENT: Dr G D Brombacher PAST PRESIDENT: Dr M Naidoo VICE PRESIDENT: Prof E Panieri
TREASURER: Dr C Sofianos SECRETARY: Dr E Coetzee
MEMBERS: Prof A Numanoglu, Prof Z Koto, Dr R Oodit, Dr M Brand
CO-OPTED MEMBERS: Dr G Reimers