from Heidelberg:)

As you all know, April is a really important month for EMSA. Our great events NCM/EuRegMe and EMS Council 6 will take place in April. Read the articles about them to get more information.

I hope you will enjoy this edition as well. See you in the next edition!:)

Tugce Kalayci Secretary General 2008/09

Dear EMSA friends

Here we go again.. with the second edition of Eu-romeds. I hope you have been fine until now. I would like to take this chance to en-courage you to send your articles for the next Euromeds. Trust me, you will feel great when you will see your name and article here:)

In February we had our 2nd face to face EMSA European Board Meeting in Heidelberg, Germany. We had a very fruitful

meeting and we also had a lot fun as a team. In this edi-tion, you can find an

article about this meeting written by our webmas-ter, Jürgen Haege. I am adding a little souvenir

E D I T O R I A L

A N N O U N C E M E N T S

EMSA now has a new treasurer!

Karolina Janikowska was appointed as the new treas-urer of EMSA. You can con-tact her at treasurer@emsa-europe.org for any ques-tions.

Do you want to be a part of the European Working Group?

Check out the page 7.

Did you already register?

As you all know, one of the greatest events of EMSA, the NCM/EuRegMe will take place in Bulgaria at 2-5 April 2009.

You can register through www.euregme.amsb.org

More information can be found in page 3.

And another big EMSA event: European Medical Students’ Council 6. EMS Council 6 will take place in Istanbul, Turkey in the dates of 29 April– 3 May 2009. You can register through www.emscouncil6.org

More information can be found in page 4.

Hurry up! Don’t miss the regis-trations for these two great EMSA events!

0 8 / 0 9 S E C O N D E D I T I O N

E U R O M E D S

I N T H I S E D I T I O N

V E R E N A T H I E L 2

N C M / E U R E G M E 3

E M S C O U N C I L 6 4

2 N D E E B M 5

E E B E V A L U A T I O N

6

E U R O P E A N W O R D S

8

O N T H E R I G H T T R A C K

8

W H A T I S I N ?

• What do you know about Verena?

• Do you know the web addresses of NCM/EuRegMe and EMS Council 6?

• Find out more about the European Words!

• EMSA Summer School in Croatia, check it out!

• Do you want to know the answers of Tobacco crossword puzzle?

European Medical Students’ Association

OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER

C P M E M E E T I N G 9

E M S A S U M M E R S C H O O L , D U B R O V N I K

1 0

F R E E S T Y L E 1 1

T O B A C C O C R O S S W O R D —A N S W E R S

1 3

Dear EMSA-members!

When the cur-rent EEB sent out a call for the position of the EMO-LO in November, I i m m e d i a t e l y felt attracted by this chal-lenge. I had been thinking of applying for a n E E B -position before (but couldn’t attend the GA in Warsaw be-cause I have been studying via the Eras-

mus exchange in Alicante (Spain) since September last year) and have been inter-ested in international affairs ever since. So, I was more than happy to be elected and would like to use the oppor-tunity to introduce myself to you in this issue of Eu-romeds:

I am 24 years old and have been studying at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Mu-nich in Germany since au-tumn 2003 (dreaming of be-coming a pediatrician). From second year on I engaged in the work of the student’s body – amongst others orga-nizing the professional ex-

change of IFMSA in Munich, since I have been amazed by cultural exchanges ever since my youth (when I took part in school exchanges with Hungary, Rumania, the Check Republic and New Zealand). In 2008 I myself got the chance to make a clerkship via the IFMSA in the Philippines, where you see me in the picture I at-tached, when I attended a medical mission, where stu-dents did circumcisions in a rural area.

Besides, I was a member of my faculty board, where I took part in search commit-

member FMO of EMSA in January 2007, I was impressed by the wide range of options EMSA offers to its members, so I became LC of the FMO Munich, which I stayed until the end of 2008. Within this time I organized the first Movies and Medicine events in Munich and kicked off our twinning with Lisbon which will take place in April. Besides I was the first one of my FMO to take part in an EMSA-GA when I went to An-kara in 2007.

In my spare time I like skiing, swimming, travelling, meeting people, going to rock- and indie-concerts and to the theatre.

tees for new professors, and member of the commission for the contribution of study fees at my faculty. Within these tasks I was able to help improve the medical education at my faculty and I tried to increase my knowl-edge in this field by attend-ing the general assemblies of the German medical stu-dents’ Association and work-ing sessions of its pillar on medical education as well as the sessions on Medical Education during the August Meeting of ifmsa in Canter-bury in 2007.

When my faculty became a

Besides, I am fascinated by learning Spanish right now – and of course I get to party a lot in Spain.

Let’s get EMSA partying to-gether. Personally I am look-ing forward to strengthening EMSA’s relations to its part-ners and to meeting all of you at the upcoming NCM and GA.

Europeanly yours,

Verena

flip20flop84@yahoo.de

V E R E N A T H I E L - E U R O P E A N M E D I C A L O R G A N I Z A T I O N S L I A I S O N O F F I C E R — 2 0 0 8 / 0 9

When my

faculty became

a member FMO

of EMSA in

January 2007, I

was impressed

by the wide

range of options

EMSA offers to

its members

Page 2 E U R O M E D S

In about three months you will be able to say hello to all your old EMSA friends and to meet a lot of new ones. From 2 to 5 April EMSA will hold its National Coordinators’ and Enthusi-asts’ Meeting in Veliko Tarnovo, Bul-garia. During these four days you can meet all your fellow EMSA members from countries all over Europe. Share your experiences with the Teddy Bear Hospital, tell others your opinion about Medical Education in your country or brainstorm about a new project at your faculty! And of course, come to Bul-garia to meet medical students from other countries and make friends with people from Austria, Belgium, Ger-

many, Greece, Hungary, Malta, Po-land, Portugal, Sweden, The Nether-lands, UK, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, Albania, Croatia, Ma-cedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Geor-gia, Ukraine and Azerbaijan!

So… what is the NCM? The National Coordinators’ and En-thusiasts’ Meeting is one of EMSA’s two big meetings and takes place every year in spring. During four days EMSA enthusiasts from all over Europe come together to talk about EMSA, EMSA’s projects and to share their experience and knowledge. The NCM 2009 will be

even more special, because for the second time we will organize this meeting together with the European Regional Meeting of IFMSA, the Inter-national Federation of Medical Stu-dents’ Associations. This means that there will be more than 200 medical students, both from EMSA and IFMSA, present in Veliko Tarnovo! There will be sessions specifically about EMSA, but we will also have trainings and workshops together with IFMSA, to learn from each other and to be able to meet even more people.

The Theme… Every year the NCM has a special

drinks from all the countries that are present at the meeting!

I want to go…! The NCM will take place from Thurs-day 2 April until Sunday 5 April 2009 in Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria. The registration fee for this meeting will be €150, including accommoda-tion, food, all sessions and the so-cial programme. You can register for the NCM 2009 at: http://www.euregme.amsb.org/index.html Here you will also find more details about the meeting, such as the agenda and how to get to the venue.

ganisations to explain how they work and we will have several trainings and workshops about this subject.

And… the social part? Of course there will also be plenty of time to get to know each other, make new friends and to talk and party with all other members from EMSA and IFMSA. The meeting will start with an opening ceremony and a cocktail party. Every night the Organizing Com-mittee will organize another party to dance and have a drink with the rest of the EMSA and IFMSA members and on the last day of the meeting we will have our famous European Village Party, where you can try foods and

If you have any questions about the National Coordinators Meeting 2009, please do not hesitate to contact the EMSA European Board! Experience the real EMSA spirit and come to the NCM 2009!

See you in Veliko Tarnovo!

Ragna Boerma Students Organisations’ Liaison Offi-cer 2008/2009

ragna.boerma@gmail.com

E U R O P E ’ S A N A T O M Y : T H E N C M 2 0 0 9 I S C O M I N G !

To most EMSA members ‘Europe’ sounds like something far away, like some high institution with compli-cated rules and unexplainable proce-dures. EMSA represents its students on a European level and has contacts with a lot of European medical or-

ganisations, but what exactly does EMSA do for Europe and what does Europe do for us? How can we benefit more from our relation-ship with European or-ganisations and what exactly is this relation-ship anyway? The theme sessions dur-ing the NCM will give an

answer on all these questions. We will discuss what we, as medical students, can do on a European level, what is happening in Europe and how YOU can be involved as well! There will be speakers from different European or-

theme and during the meeting there are ses-sions that are dedicated to this specific subject. The theme for the NCM 2009 is: Europe’s anatomy: dis-covering the role of medi-cal students in Europe… We, as medical students, are the future doctors of Europe. What can we offer Europe and what can Europe offer us? Although right now we are only students, this does not mean we can not play a role in whatever hap-pens in Europe!

Page 3 E U R O M E D S

The European Medical Students’ Council (EMS Council) is a body cre-ated by the European Medical Stu-dents’ Association (EMSA) bringing together national medical students’ organizations (NMSO’s) with follow-ing objectives: • To represent the interests and

opinions of the medical stu-dents in geographical Europe

• To promote the discussion and creation of policies on issues pertaining to the studies and the life of medical students

• To defend the rights and inter-est of medical students across Europe

• To imrove co-operation and communication within the medical students organizations’ and medical students.

EMS Council meets annually and every year copes with one of the most important issues that con-cern medical students of Europe. Six years after its establishment and after being organized in Lon-don, Warsaw, Albufeira, Heidel-berg and Athens chronologically, the results of these meetings have been seriously taken into account by the Standig Committee of European Doctors (CPME) and also the European Commission in mapping out of new policies con-sidering health. Thus coming to present, the Turk-ish Medical Students’ Interna-tional Committee and more spe-cifically Cerrahpasa Medical Fac-ulty Local Committee invites all Europe to take part in this year’s EMS Council, which is going to take place in Istanbul from April

29th to May 3rd. The council’s theme, admittedly a very interesting and opportune issue for all medical students, is “Research Training in Medical education”. European support for research re-lated activities should be increased and this is considered as one of the major bottlenecks for the interac-tion between medical research and education. Emphasis on student research should be put already at the undergraduate level. This does-n't exist in most European coun-tries, where usually the research projects are undertaken at the post-graduate level as an integral com-ponent of a PhD career. A close collaboration between universities, hospitals, industries and profes-sionals is necessary for an efficient

enhancement of the quality of research. Besides academic studies and teaching, the per-formance of research is evalu-ated at different levels: with reference to national research systems, individual institutions research programmes or indi-vidual projects. Europe should increase its

competitiveness by improving many aspects of the research education and research careers. In Europe, there are only 52 researchers per 10,000 heads of workforce, while USA and Japan have 80 and 92, respectively. As a result, this shortage could be solved by medical education. Public spending on medical research in Europe should be doubled over the next ten years to en-sure the health and welfare of Europe's citizens and to nurture a thriv-ing medical research industry, accord-ing to an influential panel of distin-guished scientists. In addition, there

should be greater collaboration be-tween European institutions in medical research and improved career paths for medical scientists. So here are some of the questions that this year’s EMS Council intends to give answer to: Should every future physician receive a thorough education in the basic principles of translational and clinical research, both in medical school and during residency training? Would teaching translational and clinical research in medical schools and residency programs expose future physicians to career possibilities they might not otherwise consider? Would

6 T H E U R O P E A N M E D I C A L S T U D E N T S ’ C O U N C I L 2 9 A P R I L - 3 M A Y 2 0 0 9 , I S T A N B U L , T U R K E Y

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"On February 6-8th the EEB met for the second time. This time it took place in Heidelberg, Germany. On Friday Lea, Paul-Henry, and Jürgen had lunch with Hanneke arriving first. Tugce, Ahmet, Ragna, and Verena reached us later on the eve-

ning. After Lea collected all EEB-members from the main station, we went bowling. There we met the bvmd (German medical stu-dent organisation) delegation who prepared for the March Meeting of IFMSA in Tunisia. The evening helped a lot for good team building, catching up on news, and normal chitchat. After a funny and arduously bowling event we went happily to bed. The next morning started early.

After a big breakfast we began our meeting marathon. We voted Karo-lina as new treasurer, started plan-ning the NCM, talked about the new homepage and heard new informa-tion about the "Global Youth Meet on Tobacco Control". It was a very productive atmosphere and I was impressed by the energy everybody had. When we finished our long pro-gram, we visited the exhibition of Gunther von Hagen. Afterwards we spend the rest of the night at the beautiful “Altstadt” of Heidelberg having dinner and being part of the typical weekend student life. It seemed to have been a good experi-ence for all EEBies. On Sunday we relaxed while having breakfast and discussed problems which we missed the other day. With new

power some of the members investi-gated Heidelberg and the others began their way back home around noon. Overall the second EEB meeting was very successful and a great experience for all participating members. We are all looking forward to our next Face to Face meeting which will be help prior to

the National Coordinators & Enthusi-asts meeting in Bulgaria in April. Big thanks to Lea organising the whole event. She solved every prob-lem we had. For me it was a big pleasure to meet everybody in the team." European greetings Jürgen Haege Webmaster 2008/09 juhge@web.de

succeeded in winning the prize. Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Top-kapi Palace are in the list of the sightseeing that the organizing com-mittee has prepared as social pro-

The organizing committee, consisting of many hard-working students from Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty, is ready to host and guide the participants in the most wondrous city of the world: Istanbul. Built in the place where two continents, Europe and Asia, meet each other and having a history of thousands of years, the city of Istanbul wel-comes visitors and reveals its secrets to them. With its obvi-ously strategic location – from a military, mercantile and reli-gious standpoint – the area that is now Istanbul has proved a tempting target for every would-be conqueror in the region. Few resisted temptation. Fewer still

gramme. As medical students and future doc-tors, we feel the necessity of taking part in the decisions on changes in health and education policies in our

countries. As a result, EMS Coun-cil was created and this year its theme “Research Training in Medical Education” calls us to follow it. Registrations are still open and will be until April 15th. Become a part of progress! Be-come a part of EMS Council 6! For more information and regis-tration please visit www.emscouncil6.org

Georgios Chatzigiannidis

EMS Council 6 Vice-President

2 N D E M S A E U R O P E A N B O A R D M E E T I N G , H E I D E L B E R G

Page 5 E U R O M E D S

Dear EMSA Members & Friends!!

"A program is a theory and an evaluation is its test." (Weiss)

… which is what I am writing about. As already said in my candidature, I was aiming for an improvement of the com-munication and work within the Board. Therefore, I designed an evaluation form which was send to all EEBies at the end of the first quarter of our term. To fill in the blanks anonymously and honest was their task. I would now like to give you a short summary of the results. Participants: 9 out of 11 Evaluated Period: October 2008 – December 2008

The question to the first graph was regarding The 2nd graph shows whether expectations online EEB meetings: for the work in the EEB were met so far:

100% said they liked the working atmosphere during the F2F meeting in Istanbul, giving a total grade of A+ to this meeting.

The next graph shows parts

of how EEBies evaluated their own work:

Regarding the EEB as team the following characteristics were marked as often as shown:

I could alwaysattend themeetings

Most of the time Icould attend

Sometimes Icould attendmeetings

Yes

Most often

Somewhat

Page 6 E U R O M E D S

E M S A E U R O P E A N B O A R D E V A L U A T I O N

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

I completed assigned tasks on time

I felt well prepared through thehandover No

Not reallySomewhatAlmostYes

Last but not least, we have all answered some questions about the first quarter in the EEB. Without knowing oth-ers’ answers we often agreed on the same things:

This evaluation has two proposes in my eyes: On the one hand, the members should see how the EEB works, on the other hand, we need to find out where improvement is necessary. I am convinced that we can continue work-ing with this foundation on the same second quarter of the EEBies term.

For questions or further information, get right back to me at vice-president@emsa-europe.org !

Lea Scheidt

Vice president of EMSA 2008/09

Page 7 E U R O M E D S

Always wanted to be journalist? Do you love writing, but want to do more than writing another essay for your studies or a simple report of the pro-ject organized at your faculty? Want to write articles that will be read by hun-dreds of people around Europe?

If your answer to these questions is yes, you might be interested in EMSA’s newest international project: European Words!

European Words is a new online magazine, written by students and

written for students. In this maga-zine you will find articles about students’ life in all countries of Europe. Read how people study medicine in France, what’s the best place to go out in Istanbul or how a medical student in Croatia spends his free time! European Words is all about European inte-gration, getting to know each others culture in an easy, infor-

mal way. While reading European Words you are in contact with young people like you from all over Europe.

But what would a magazine be with-out the writers: the journalists who write the articles, do an interview or make a report about a special event in their hometown..?

Do you want to share your thoughts and your way of living with the rest of Europe? Your articles are more than welcome! If you’re interested to write for European Words, either only once or several times, you can send your

article to europeanwords@gmail.com You will hear as soon as possible if your article is going to be published.

The first issue of European Words will be published by the beginning of March 2009. The magazine is a joint initiative of EMSA and IFMSA and will be sent to the EMSA and IFMSA mail-ing lists. A website for European Words will be available soon!

If you have any questions about Euro-pean Words, please do not hesitate to contact me. The European Words team is looking forward to receiving your articles!

Ragna Boerma

Editor in Chief European Words

Students Organisations’ Liaison Offi-cer 2008/2009

E U R O P E A N W O R D S : Y O U R W O R L D , Y O U R W O R D S . . .

Page 8 E U R O M E D S

O N T H E R I G H T T R A C K — W O R K I N G G R O U P time. C’est la vie.

Anyhow, back to our topic. The EEB ended up… Debating the means to an end. Suffice to say we did manage to agree. Eventually.

To make a long story short, we de-cided the best course of action would be the following… Each director would first and foremost be able to assign his assistant according to his needs. Second, a work group would be formed to support projects on the European level as well as to increase cooperation between the four pillars and to ensure the continuity of EEB policies. Last but not least, if needed additional task forces could be formed.

I’ll skip the formal part at this mo-ment. Suffice to say the legal issues were considered and the final deci-sions will be made by the GA…

So back to the Work Group… The idea is all nice and dandy, but exactly how do we plan on doing it? Well… A friend of mine told me that the simplest ideas were usually the best. Writing an article about the need of such a group, sending a call for its formation

Changes are rather popular this day and age. No secret there. And no won-der. The world is changing. The cli-mate. The economy. You name it. Whether we want it or not, we’re all changing lanes, tracks, trains… Hop-ing we’ll end up doing the right thing…

EMSA is no exception. The EEB is no exception. Money has always been hard to get. Now it’s harder. Enthusi-asts are rare enough and now they too have different priorities. All in all, it’s a tough world out there…

But what better time to “go home and rethink about my life” then this?! One can but do all one can do be bet-ter. The EEB is, again, no exception! I’ll not bore you with all the details of “what to’s” and “how to’s”. A quick overview will suffice…

During the meeting in Istanbul the directors all agreed they needed more people to work on all the ongoing pro-jects. Truth be told, my position was rather easy. With very few projects in the ethics department I was able to invent my own. This would, naturally, prove to be a blessing as well as a curse. As brainstorming usually does. You get too many ideas and too little

and giving the people that apply something to do seem simple and straightforward enough. Add a mailing list, a forum and a moderator and you got yourself a deal!

Ok, ok… It’s not AS simple… But you got the general idea.

For the time being (not to bore you… too much) I will only say that we have a lot to do. The Work Group should make it all easier. Two heads are bet-ter then one. Or so I’ve heard…

It is also important to note that WG membership is 100% voluntary (with the exception of EEB delegates). This means that we’ll keep it all stress-free and just try to have fun brainstorming and working together. Naturally, those willing will be given a chance to par-ticipate in greater scale. Cooperate with the EEB, work on a pillar project or even start one’s own!

And what better place to do just that then in a group of EMSA enthusiasts?

So join us and let the creativity begin!

Tin Knežević

emsa-eb@googlegroups.com

Dear EMSA enthusiastic,

My name is Miguel Lopes, the former WHO-EURO Liaison Officer position 2007-2008. This small article follows belatedly the request of the actual EMSA president Hanneke van der Wijngaart, who kindly asked to give EUROMEDS readers a view of the atmosphere in a CPME meeting.

On the 24th and 25th October 2008 I had the opportunity to represent EMSA in the CPME meeting held in the magnificent headquarters of the British Medical Association in Lon-don.

The Standing Committee of Euro-pean Doctors (CPME) is a European non-profit association based in Brus-sels, composed by the National Medi-cal Associations of the European Un-ion, including 3 non-EU countries: Norway, Iceland and Switzerland. CPME is representing approximately 2 million physicians.

At the moment CPME recognizes nine specialized European Medical Organi-sations, including EMSA. CPME offers six-month traineeships to EMSA at the CPME secretariat in Brussels (this is the EMSA Permanent Officer) as well as some participation positions during their meetings. CPME is there-fore one of EMSA closest allies.

While in charge of WHO-EURO Liaison Officer position, not directly con-nected to CPME, my participation in this GA meeting was justified by agenda incompatibility of other board elements.

I was already partially acquainted with CPME as far as its agenda is followed carefully by EMSA board in

general and as well as by other meetings where CPME was present, namely EFMA (European Forum of Medical Association) meeting April 2008. Nonetheless, I decided to have just an observer passive status in the meeting restricting to coffee-break conversations with target contact persons I already knew from my work within tobacco field.

CPME meetings share the basic root formula with GAs at EMSA level or even at some national organiza-tions: free-choice sessions in small groups, plenary session and social programme.

Expectedly, the content lives up to the grandeur of such preeminent lobbying organization:

- reknown participants (besides myself! :))

- up-do-date agenda (some of the issues discussed in-cluded: working hours, ethi-cal use of digital medical data, organs donation and transplantation)

- Professional, fluent and influ-ential speeches and deci-sions, capable of reaching nuclear political institutions such as the European Par-liament, with real social repercussion

Despite my “student-status”, I enjoyed from a diplomatic hospitability without any kind of status barrier. Actually, one of the striking features of such leading personalities is humbleness and cordiality.

Personally, watching alive

such weighty decision-making proc-ess gave me a completely new per-spective within political, diplomatic and social scenarios. In particular, it raised awareness on the accessibility of general society to take part in such discussions. Instead of the closed elitist sphere as it is usually re-garded, political decision has its roots in “ordinary” brains, such as those coming from medical students with a regular lifestyle. Indeed, due to the similarity in the organization model, EMSA relying in its members volunteer work, is able to produce influent statements, which are capa-ble of making their way until the high-est of political decision centers, with future real consequences.

CPME GA sets an example of profes-sionalism and no doubts that EMSA synergy with CPME can only be fruit-ful for both and therefore EMSA shall keep on making itself represented in these meetings.

For all new EMSA enthusiastic I would like to stress the importance of looking carefully for CPME activities as it represents a solid supporter for EMSA ambitions and a life-school for its members.

F I N D O U T M O R E A B O U T T H E C P M E M E E T I N G S !

Page 9 E U R O M E D S

It is a privilege to present you EMSA Summer School!

This is a project that brings together students from all around the world interested in gaining and exchanging knowledge in the field of emergency medicine. For the sixth time, the school will take place in Dubrovnik, Croatia, from July 27th untill August 4th 2009. It is organised by EMSA Zagreb and Student Section of Croatian Medical Association of Zagreb. The main theme of the project is emergency medicine and it consists of

the following topics:

—Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (BLS & ALS)

—Shock & coma —Drug abuse & poisoning —Polytraumatized patient & basic

surgical skills —Rational pharmacotherapy —Pediatric emergencies

—Principles of critical medical thinking

The scientific part is composed of lectures, interactive seminars, practical skills and daily cases held by Croatian leading experts in this field. Every student will have a chance to renew and expand his/her knowlegde, as well as master new skills.

Alongside the scientific part, a well organized social program is meant to enrich this unique experience by enabling participants to make new friendships and to develop a feeling of team spirit. The social program includes sightseeing and an insight in Dubrovnik's rich history, team

buildings, sport activities, EMSA Village Party, field trips, medical games and nightlife...

The school is concluded on August 4th by a written exam and a certificate of attendance which is handed to each participant on a ceremonial gala dinner.

Evaluation of the School is made through a questionaire which grades all the segments (boarding and logding, lectures, seminars, workshops, cultural and social life, lecturers and the organizing committee).

The number of participants is set up to a total of 44 and is limited for the purpose of achieving a better quality of work in small groups using an individual approach.

For the price of 350 €, that includes accommodation with 3 meals a day, field trips, tickets for sightseeing and other cultural events, you can experience Dubrovnik and its many wonders.

Further information about the school and date of registration opening can be found on www.ess-hr.com.

So, come to Dubrovnik this summer, a real pearl of the Adriatic coast...

Boris Karanović, President of the organizing committee Vesna Buntak, Honorary President of the organizing committee Vanja Crnica, Vice President of the organizing committee

E M S A S U M M E R S C H O O L , D U B R O V N İ K , C R O A T I A

Page 10 E U R O M E D S

Lately I’ve been using one word rather often. The word is “change”. The reason more then obvious. I guess this article is all about change as well. For better or worse… Anyhow, my country is undergoing (yet another) healthcare system re-construction. Why? Because health is expensive and the economy is depressive. How? Rather simple, raise the insur-ance… Now, it may not be my place to be the judge and the jury, but it is my re-sponsibility to study, question and debate. To do so I’m simply gonna ask a few rhetorical questions. And answer them myself. Point taken, that strikes the “rhetorical” part from the question, but then again, it is a neat little trick diplomats often use. J It will also sound as if I’m talking to myself. Hope my doctor doesn’t hear me… And I hope this article has a point by the time you finish reading…

Lights, camera… Action! What is the most important thing one can have? Some may name their million dollar car, house, or bank account. Those that consider themselves wise will say that their knowledge and their skills are more important. Those that on the other hand follow the heart will say it’s their spouse, their child, their family. I for one say that a healthy man wants many things, while a sick man wants but one. Health. To the ones that follow their heart, I say that there is no pain greater then watching a loved one live with a ter-

minal disease. To the ones that consider them-selves wise, I say Herr Altzheimer can come knocking any day. To those that value their bank ac-counts… Well… You just got your priorities wrong! :) Though, being perfectly honest, money does make the world go ‘round… What is the price you’d be ready to pay for health? People go above and beyond trying to gather funds so their family mem-bers could but live to see another day… Many times no price is too great. Naturally, people prioritize differ-ently. But I think we’ll all agree that Maslov was right and that we all tend to first and foremost think about our physiological wellbeing before we start thinking about the Live, the Universe and Everything.

Is an ill man productive? Have you ever had an exam and were ill? Were you as productive as you would have been were you healthy? Or, an even better example… Did you ever catch something during your vacation? You hate that, don’t you? The time of the year to relax and refill your batteries and you’re just stuck in bed feeling like you’ve been run over by a couple of buffa-los. Damn! The point is, our productivity de-creases proportionally to the state of illness we’re in. But… If you have to pay to get bet-ter… And you are less productive… Then… You end up selling your kidney to pay for the liver transplant. Exactly! But this is quite often solved by sav-

ing some “just in case money”. By paying your healthcare insurance when you are productive. However, what happens when reces-sion comes knock, knock, knocking on Earth’s door? Less money, less insurance, less health, less productiv-ity, more crisis.

Of course, that’s just my reasoning… Umm… That’s saying the insurance is a bad thing then? Of course not… That’s saying that public health should be a matter of public interest. As such, an ill man should not be forced to pay more just because he’s ill. This should be cov-ered by the insurance. Every country has it’s own system and one would be a fool to choose one and say: “This one is the best!” Every healthcare system is but a part of the dynamic equilibrium called the state and so can only be valued ac-cording to the system it is in. To go a step further… We all should be aware of two facts. First, the aforementioned dynamic equilibrium influences the healthcare system greatly. Second, the health of the population is in direct correlation with it’s productivity just as it’s education is. Ergo, it is an integrative part of the equation of the dynamic equilibrium. Or, in words: “The chain is as strong as it’s weakest link!” But… With the financial crisis being global… Is health now more impor-tant then it used to be? Yes and no… The value of health has-n’t really changed. The value of a good healthcare system has. Before the crisis most of the people didn’t really need to think twice before they spent a few euros. Today they do. At least thrice. Those that lost their job are endan-gered because they usually (depending on a country they are in)

T A L K I N G T O M Y S E L F : “ F R O M H E A L T O H E A L T H C A R E ”

F R E E S T Y L E

Page 11 E U R O M E D S

But let’s get back to the point… Deal-ing with the financial crisis is of ut-most importance, nonetheless we can not forget it’s impact on the healthcare, education, culture… If we don’t think long term, we’ll end up creating a new crisis. So health, knowledge, culture… Should be free? That ”revolutionary” idea kind of fell with the Berlin Wall… It did. And nothing is really for free… It’s not really a question of price, rather of accessibility. One should also note that this isn’t revolutionary thinking… It’s evolution-ary. The key concept of evolution is that the most adoptable species sur-vive. Homo sapiens is quite an adaptive little mammal. But… Is it time for the strong to pray on the weak? Politics aside, I’m saying that if the society as a whole wants to get out of the gutter, we have to work together and invest in our future. We can’t do so if we aren’t healthy and educated. It makes no difference if someone is rich or poor, a farmer or a professor. We are all parts of an equation we like to call “the society”. If the young have no money to edu-cate themselves, the professors are out of a job. If the people have no money, the farmers don’t get paid. It really is that simple. In a dynamic equilibrium, all parts influence each other.

So the rich should pay for the poor?

The rich are rich for a reason. They were born with the potential to be-come rich. Whether they, as Mr. Williams put it, “were born great, achieved greatness or got it as a graduation gift”, they had the poten-tial to become rich… If my father is a rich, well educated man, I am more likely to become one myself. But that’s not saying the rich should “work to feed the poor”. No. It’s say-ing the society as a whole should work for the better of the society as a whole. The rich are part of the society, are they not? Not to be misunderstood, we are all parts of the same society and we all share the responsibility! In this we are indeed equals.

Do you believe in equality? It is utopist to think that we are all born equal. Some are born in the deserts of Africa, others in the Euro-pean metropolitan areas. No two people are the same and, truth be told, the world would be rather dull if they were… But that’s not the question. The question is whether two people should be given the same chance to fulfill their dreams and their poten-tials. To pursue one’s happiness, if you wish.

I think it is wise to say they should…

And who should ensure this be? The society should. We all should. According to our potentials, of course.

So… Basically it’s a kind of an insur-ance? Except we’re not only talking about money… Exactly! The society invests in it’s own future! In it’s doctors, it’s pilots, it’s bus drivers. And it does so in many ways. Economy is but a part of it. If we all end up doing a better job, we’ll get out of any crisis.

The rub is, we have to do it together… Work together, pay together, invest together… It might not be as easy as it sounds… Nothing in life is. But answer this… Are we responsible for our own deeds? Of course we are. Just as I am re-sponsible for flunking an exam, the society is responsible for creating a crisis. We must all start acting re-sponsible. If we don’t start thinking long term as well as short term, one day we’ll be laughed at by our own children… But can one person really make a difference? One person can make all the differ-ence! Sure, we are all parts of the same system and we are all influ-enced by everyone else. Still, don’t look at it as a curse. Look at it as a blessing! Other people will react ac-cording to your actions…

We are all ripples in a pond…

Felix

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♦ EMS Council 6

This year, European Medical Students’ Council 6 will be hosted by Cerrahpasa FMO, Istanbul.

Place: Istanbul, Turkey

Dates: 29th April-3rd May 2009

Learn more?: www.emscouncil6.org

♦ NCM 09/EuRegMe VI

EMSA National Coordinators and Enthusi-asts Meeting will be organized together with IFMSA EuRegMe this year, as it was last year.

Place: Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria

Dates: 2nd-5th April 2009

Learn more?: www.euregme.amsb.org

U P C O M I N G E V E N T S

Did you figure out the answers of the tobacco crossword puzzle in the last edition?

You can check your answers!

T O B A C C O C R O S S W O R D P U Z Z L E — A N S W E R S

Page 13 E U R O M E D S

EMSA – c/o Standing Committee of European Doctors (CPME) – Rue Guimard 15 – B1040 Brussels - Belgium

Web: www.emsa-europe.org

E-Mail: eeb@emsa-europe.org

WHAT IS EMSA?

The European Medical Students’ Association (EMSA) was founded in

Brussels in 1991. It integrates medical students in geographical Europe

through activities organised for and by medical students and representing

them in Brussels. Faculties are members, not the individual countries. Since

EMSA’s foundation many medical faculties throughout Europe enrolled with

EMSA. It currently units 50 medical faculties from countries across Europe.

EMSA seeks to improve the health and the quality of care of the citizens of

Europe by acting as a conduit for increased interaction and sharing of

knowledge between European medical students in the areas of medical education,

ethics and science.

E U R O P E A N M E D İ C A L S T U D E N T S ’ A S S O C I A T I O N

Tugce Kalayci

Secretary General 2008/09

Congragulations! You read the whole Euromeds:) I hope you enjoyed it. As you know, Euromeds will be better with your salt in the soup. So please contact me for your questions, comments and contributions and most importantly, with your articles! :)

Hope to hear from you soon!

E-Mail: secretary@emsa-europe.org tugcekalayci@gmail.com

Msn: tugcekalayci@hotmail.com

S E E Y O U I N T H E N E X T E D I T I O N ! Acknowledgement

Articles do not neces-sarily reflect the opin-ion of EMSA. All arti-cles are the copyrights of the EUROPEAN MEDICAL STUDENTS’ ASSOCIATION (EMSA). We thank all of you for your contributions.

The objectives of EMSA are:

° To form a network between European medical students to facilitate European integration and develop a sense of European

identity

° To represent and voice the opinions of the medical students of Europe

° To act as a forum for all medical students in Europe, to discuss topics related to the fields of medical education, medical ethics, and medical research

° To promote the highest standards in European medical education and ensure the quality of healthcare in Europe

° To promote training, activities and projects related to health in Europe to the benefit of medical students and society

° To facilitate intercultural understanding by organizing social and cultural events

° To cooperate with other student organizations and with organizations representing the medical profession

A couple of the activities EMSA organises are: Teddy Bear Hospital, Twinning Project, Eurotalk, EMSA Summer Schools, EMS Council,

EMSA-skiing week, JEMSA and many more. For more information about EMSA projects you can contact the EMSA European Board

(mailto: eeb@emsa-europe.org) or visit our website at: www.emsa-europe.org.