North East Branch

Submitted by: Dr. Cindo Nicholson (Chairman)

We have had a successful year, despite our lack of representation at meetings. As a zone, we have had monthly dinner meetings, with attendance, considering the number of doctors in the area, disappointing (avg. 12-15). All our meetings were sponsored, the presentations have been insightful, and CME accredited.

We thank all the drug companies for their support and the presenters for their tie and willingness to shear their knowledge

Administration 2007-2008

Chairman:                    Dr. Cindo Nicholson

Vice- Chairman:          Dr. Linton Francis

Secretary:                    Dr. Roger Carrington

Asst. Secretary:           Dr. C. Hoo

Treasurer:                    Dr. David Crawford

Asst. Treasurer:           Dr. Earl Marshall

Objectives 2007

1. Increased attendance at Meetings.

2. Increased critical support of the National/Local health issues/initiatives.

3. Closer links with NERHA

4. Having an annual NEMAJ Medical Symposium.

Recommendations

1. Membership participation:

Having some meetings (quarterly/semi-annual) in zones, open to members.

2. Can we have a change from Thursday evening’s Executive meetings to weekend (Saturday evenings) to facilitate us “Country” doctors?

We thank the past administration for their leadership and support and wish form them all that are good in the future.

To the incoming administration, we wish them a successful tenure and God’s guidance.

Western Medical Association
Submitted by Dr. Jacqueline Chambers-Roberts (Immd. Past President)

Membership: To date there are 62 paid-up members of the WMA with less than 10 of these being MAJ paid-up members.

The Executive was constituted as follows:

President.............................. Dr Jacqueline Chambers

Vice President..................... Dr Marcia Johnson-Campbell

Secretary.............................. Dr Heather Jones- Fray

Treasurer.............................. Dr Garfield Badal

Asst. Secretary.................... Dr Derrick Harvey

Asst. Treasurer..................... Dr Rosemarie Hamilton

CME Coordinator............... Dr Sonia Nixon

Floor members..................... Drs David Hunter, Clive McKenzie and Steven Bourne

Immediate Past President...... Dr Martin Taylor

We celebrated the professional achievements of the following members this year:

·                     Dr. Sheila Campbell-Forrester

Promoted to Acting Chief Medical Officer, MOH

·                     Dr. Greg Thomas

Appointed as Senior Medical Officer, Cornwall Regional Hospital

·                     Dr. Curtis Yeates

Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians

Our congratulations were extended to:

v      Dr. Sonia Nixon on her marriage to Mr. Ren Brown

v      Dr. Doris Channer –Watson and her husband Edgar who celebrated 

  their 40^th  Wedding Anniversary

In October 2006, the WMA recognized the life’s work of four stalwarts in Health Care who hail from Western Jamaica. This took the form of an Awards Banquet which was held at the Day ‘O’ Plantation Restaurant in honor of the following doctors:

Ø    Herbert Eldemire

Ø    Doris Channer-Watson

Ø    Trevor Marsh

Ø    H.A. ‘Marco’ Brown

MAJ president, Dr Al Bailey participated in the ceremonies which received wide media coverage.

Continuing Medical Education:

·                     In keeping with our mandate of Professional Development, 2006-2007 saw the WMA organizing and hosting 18 educational sessions for a total of 20 hours of CME.

·                     We were instrumental in the pre-registration process of two major international conferences held in Montego Bay during this year, namely the UWIDOP Diabetes Conference (Feb ’07) and the Caribbean Health Research Symposium (May ’07). More than 120 participants (nurses & doctors) were pre-registered through our office for these two events.

·                     Several of our members volunteered for the recently held World Cup Cricket. These doctors received training in BLS and ACLS through the Ministry of Health and worked at the various events (opening ceremony, warm-up and series matches) held in Western Jamaica.

Newly Installed Executive as at June 1, 2007

President.............................. Dr Garfield Badal

Vice President..................... Dr Steven Bourne

Treasurer.............................. Dr Martin Taylor

Secretary.............................. Dr Karen Simpson

Asst. Sec.............................. Dr Marcia Johnson Campbell

Asst Treasurer...................... Dr Sonia Forbes

CME coordinator................ Dr Sonia Nixon

Floor Members.................... Drs David Hunter, Selbourne Hemmings and Lyn Maroo

Immediate Past President.... Dr Jacqueline Chambers

Portland Branch
Submitted by: Dr. Satya Parvataneni (Immd. Past President)

CME meetings:-

Mini Symposium- Some common Eye diseases in General Practice.
Mini Symposium - HIV in General Practice

Out reach projects:-

We did 70 sight restoring operations (56 Cataracts + 14 others) in November 05 in association with SEEI, Surgical Eye Expedition International and Rotary club of Port Antonio.

Medical coverage and medical for Special Olympics in Portland.

Donating seven Panasonic Ceiling fans (JA$ 45,000.) to Portland Health Department to provide comfort to staff and patients of the institution.

Southern Branch
Submitted by Dr. Humphrey Lyn (Chairman)

The Executive of the Medical Association of Jamaica had decided to merge the Southern Branch and the Metropolitan Branch. This decision was taken because of the unsafe and volatile environment precipitated by the crime and violence in Spanish Town where the Southern Branch have its meetings and found it not to be conducive to continue. These meetings were then to be held at a suitable place in Kingston where it is thought to be safer?! However, these plans have not come to any fruition as our colleagues in Kingston and St. Catherine showed a general lack of interest and indeed displayed lassitude. We will not be deterred, however, and continue to strive to whip our colleagues into a state of frenzy to come to the branch meetings (benefits: C.M.E. credits, remember the Medical Council of Jamaica watches us, and of course socialization with our friends and colleagues).

Central Branch
Submitted by Dr. Everton McIntosh (Chairman)

Members enjoyed an uneventful year in the Central Branch of MAJ.

Our monthly CME meetings continued to be held on the last Monday of each month. These were very well attended by our members as well as by nurses and other health professionals. The meetings featured excellent presentations covering a wide range of topics by local and visiting presenters, with enthusiastic participation by the audience by their questions and comments. MAJ business was also discussed at these meetings.

The second annual research day of the Mandeville Regional Hospital and Central MAJ was held on Monday 25, September 2006. It featured oral presentations and posters by the different clinical departments. The presentations were of a high standard and were well received by the large appreciative audience. Special commendations go to Dr. Steve Mullings for organizing and coordinating the event.

A number of other meetings were held throughout the year, organized by various drug companies in collaboration with various medical groups or specialties. These also featured visiting and local presenters and were very well attended.

Congratulations to outgoing president Alverston Bailey and his executive for having lead and represented us so ably over the past year. We look forward to working with the new executive and wish for them a successful and fulfilling tenure in office.