Executive Summary of Minutes

Executive Board meetings are attended by theAOFOG office bearers and they discuss the matters to be presented before the Council meeting which isusually held the next day. The Council is made up of onedelegate each from the member societies; ExecutiveBoard members; Committee Chairpersons; Past Presi-dents and Fellows. The Council en bloc decides on allmatters presented before it.

1. Matters arising from the previous Executive Boardand Council meetings held in Dr Anandakumar’sresidence and Westin Plaza Hotel were read andapproved.

2. Election of President-elect and Vice President

With the untimely death of Prof SS Ratnam, the positionof President Elect was vacant. Two nominees weresubmitted: Dr Shahidi Zaidi (PK) and Prof YS Chang(KR). After closed balloting during the CouncilMeeting chaired by Dr Peter Elliot (AU), Dr Zaidiemerged as the President Elect. A viva voce vote for Prof Chang as Vice President was then unanimouslyendorsed.

3. Transfer of the AOFOG secretariat

The Secretary-General informed the Board about the successful meeting in March 2001 in Singapore to properly turnover the AOFOG files and other

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Executive Board Meeting1 and Council Meeting2

Prof Walfrido W. Sumpaico

Secretary-General

1Friday, 26 October 2001, Hotel Sofitel, Melbourne, Australia2Saturday, 27 October 2001, RANZCOG College House, Melbourne, Australia

Figure 1 The AOFOG 2000–2002 council members.

matters related to the transfer of the AOFOG Secretariat from Singapore to the Philippines. He also informed the Board about the secretariat accountsthat are now held in the Philippines. Basically, the secretariat has managed in using only US$20000 of the allocated US$30000 budget set by the Federationincluding the expenses for the Constitution ChangeCommittee.

4. AOFOG website

The Secretary-General informed the Board about the website and inaugurated it at the CouncilMeeting. He gave the Board an overview on what toexpect of the website (e.g. History of AOFOG, directoryof the national societies, etc.). He further stated thatthe website will serve as an information hub as well as educational hub that will benefit not only all themembers of the Federation but also all other inter-ested people who will visit the website.

The AOFOG website is http://www.aofog.org

5. Constitutional change

A committee chaired by Prof Ramesh Pandit (India)and cochaired by Prof G. Bishop (Australia) met with the executive board and some committee members inAntipolo City, Philippines to discuss changes in theAOFOG Constitution. Discussion was made duringboth the Council Meeting and the General Assembly but it can only be ratified by the General Assembly in Bangalore, 2002.

6. Treasurer’s report

6.1. Federation Accounts: The Treasurer discussed the advantage of converting the Federation’s CHFTime Deposit to US Dollars. Due to the September 11event (New York World Trade Center Bombing), hegained information from our accounting firm regard-ing the pros and cons of the US$ compared to SwissFrancs. It is very difficult to assess the US$ currencydue to the USA’S retaliation to the terrorist attack and the inability to determine how long Americaninvolvement will last. When asked why the Fed-eration decided to change the money into SwissFrancs, the treasurer stated that since all the com-modities are relying in US$, it is better to keep themoney in US$. The treasurer decided to keep themoney in US$. (Motion approved by Board andCouncil).

The Treasurer also said that the Federation needed tochange the signatories for the US$ accounts. Prof Ho

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reiterated that finances come from the Annual Sub-scription dues of the member societies and the Congresses.

6.2. Allowances for the officers and committeechairpersons: Upon inquiry by the Secretary-General, the Treasurer raised the topic about the allowancesreceived by the Committee Chairpersons and some ofthe members of the Executive Board (the President,the Deputy Secretary-General and the Treasurer). Theother members of the Executive Board and Councilmembers do not receive any allowances. As suggestedby the Secretary-General, some sort of an accounting for allowances paid by the Federation should be done. The Treasurer agreed with this idea. (Motionapproved by Board and Council.)

The Secretary-General then mentioned that all of the officers and Committee Chairpersons are notsupported by their own National Society and areserving the Federation pro bono. If the time comeswhen the Federation is making enough money, theSecretary-General suggested that it may be possible to provide a budget for the officers. He is lookingforward to that day when officers of the Federationwill be given a little expense money. He added that hereceived invitations from different member societiesbut he simply cannot go because of the problem withfunds. He wanted to see what is happening to the 23member society.

The Deputy Secretary-General shared his observa-tions that the probable reason why some of theCouncil members could not attend the meeting wasbecause some of them do not receive any supportfrom their respective National Society (e.g. Mongolia,Papua New Guinea, Vietnam). He further pointed outthat there are Fellows who really would like to con-tribute a lot to the Federation but they cannot just do it due to problem with funds.

He further suggested to the Board that it would be agood idea to ask the host National Society (Pre/PostCongress) to have a minimum assistance such asaccommodation to the Speakers from AOFOG.

Prof PC Ho, seconded by Dr Koyama, suggestedgiving the Secretary-General a travel allowance withinthe Secretariat’s operating budget not to exceedUS$3000. (Motion approved by Board and Council.)

7. Journal report

Dr Koyama read the following report on behalf ofProfessor Murata.

7.1. Due to Professor Kuwabara’s death, the Editorialoffice was moved from Tokyo to Osaka.

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7.2. The number of manuscripts submitted in year2000 was 134, which proved to be the highestachieved since 1980.

7.3. He also advised the Board regarding thechange of publisher from the University of TokyoPress to Blackwell Science Asia.

7.4. The dispatching of the Journal to each con-stituent society was discussed. The JSOG has beenresponsible for maintaining the Journal with anannual contribution of US$16000 from AOFOG. Themember societies pay for the mailing costs for theirrespective members. Starting from 2002, the AOFOGsubsidy to the JOGR has been increased to US$20000.(Motion approved by Board and Council.)

7.5. On review, the Young Scientist Awards aregiven during the Congresses to the best three papers inthe preceding 2 years. The Journal editors will determinethe best 3 nominees.

8. Young Gynecologist Awards

The benefits of the Young Gynecologist Awards were discussed. Benefits are made possible from agenerous grant from Organon and the Secretary-General told the Board that a research paper shouldbe required from all applicants for the award. He alsoinformed them of Organon’s commitment to sponsorawardees selectively from developing countries. Feb-ruary 28, 2001 was the deadline set for nominees tothe 2002 Bangalore congress.

The Secretary-General raised another point aboutthe performance of the young gynecologist awardees(YGAs). Dr Zaidi (head of the YGA) was tasked to askwhat has happened to the former YGAs so we canhave a feedback as to the effect of being a YGA.

9. AOFOG fellowship

The Secretary-General read out the names of the two selected fellows recommended by the FellowNomination Committee to be conferred in at the 2002Congress in Bangalore, India. 1. Dr Usha Krishna(India), and 2. Professor Seun-Jo Kim (Korea).

Prof G. Bishop added the name of Dr Jose Relacion(Philippines) as the third awardee. The nomination of Dr W. Perera (Sri Lanka) was held in abeyancepending submission of a completed CV. (Motioncarried by Board and Council.)

10. 2002 AOFOG pre-congress, Karachi, Pakistan

The Secretary-General said that it might be hard tohold the Pre-Congress in Karachi with the turn ofevents after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack in the

World Trade Center. What if the condition changes byDecember?

After some discussion and drawing from the parallelsituation when the Philippines was chosen to host theCongress in 1993 (where if things did not improve,Indonesia will take over), a suggestion was made towait till February 28, 2002. If the situation improves, the Karachi congress will continue, if the situationworsens, Sri Lanka was chosen as the alternate venue.(Motion was approved by Board and Council.)

11. 2002 AOFOG congress, Bangalore, India

The Secretary-General brought up the problem thatthe Scientific Programme for the Congress containsonly titles of topics. Dr Kamini Rao and PrakashMehta of the Bangalore organizing committee pre-sented their preparations. It was noted that the names ofthe speakers and specific topics should be expedited. Alot of names were suggested during the dinner hostedby the RANZCOG. Dr Anandakumar stressed the factthat if the host does not move, the AOFOG Secretariathas the right to take over. The Bangalore organizerswere directed to go full speed ahead in coordinationwith Prof Joseph Schenker (Israel) but they assuredthe Board and Council that they would produce agood scientific congress.

12. 2004 AOFOG congress, Cairo, Egypt

Cognizant of the tinderbox situation in the MiddleEast, the hosting of the AOFOG congress in Cairo,Egypt was discussed. It was suggested that just likethe Karachi PreCongress, an alternate venue wasneeded. Thailand was suggested. The final decisionwas deferred till the Bangalore Congress CouncilMeeting.

13. Chien Tien-Hsu memorial award and lecture

Professor Samil asked who will give the CTHsuMemorial Lecture in Bangalore. Deadline for nomina-tions was set for February 28, 2002. (Motion approved byBoard and Council.)

14. Emeritus Professor Shan S. Ratnam tribute

The Board discussed what AOFOG project could be used to pay tribute to the late Emeritus Prof S.Ratnam. Dr Anandakumar informed the Board on theidea of the Endowment Fund to help those from thedeveloping countries to attend meetings. The Boardalso discussed the handling of the funds that wouldbe generated for the Shan Ratnam memorial fund.There should be a group of trustees who will be

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responsible for this and will be separate from theAOFOG fund.

After much discussion, Professor Sivanesaratnamsuggested to just name the YGA project as the ShanRatnam Young Gynecologist Award. (Motion ap-proved by Board and Council.)

15. Vision for the future

The Secretary-General shared his vision with AOFOGregarding ‘Continuing Medical Education’ in theregion. AOFOG should push the idea especially forthose countries that are most in need. At the moment,the Federation does not have the structure to offer educational courses. Dr Anandakumar and ProfessorSumpaico then invited Dr Danapal from AEC Educational Group hoping he might be of use toAOFOG along the lines of education. Their main task is to help AOFOG in the promotion of seminars

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and workshops throughout the region by setting upthe infrastructure – AOFOG will supply the facultyand curriculum and AEC will handle the organization of the seminar-workshops. AEC will remit 25% of registration and exhibit fees back to the Federation.The Board further discussed the advantage of hav-ing educational courses and giving accreditation toAOFOG centers of excellence. (Motion approved bythe Board but shelved for further study by theCouncil.)

16. 2007 AOFOG congress, Tokyo, Japan

Since it will be the 50th anniversary of the Federation(which was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1957), the JapanSociety of Obstetrics and Gynecology (JSOG) bid tohost the 50th anniversary and 2007 AOFOG Congress inJapan. (Motion approved by Board and Council.)

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