The following appeared in the

APSR Newsletter

Special Supplement

Report from Hong Kong Thoracic Society 2006

by Thomas Mok
President of the Hong Kong Thoracic Society
and APSR Councillor for Hong Kong

  1. Anniversary Celebration of the Hong Kong Thoracic Society and Hong Kong Lung Foundation

    2006 marked the 20th Anniversary of the Hong Kong Thoracic Society and 10th Anniversary of the Hong Kong Lung Foundation. A series of celebration events were organized by the two chest organizations together with American College of Chest Physicians (Hong Kong & Macau Chapter)

    1. Anniversary Dinner

      Dinner
      Click image to enlarge

      An Anniversary Dinner was held on 23 September 2006 and was attended by past and present presidents and council members. The occasion was graced by representatives from different professional societies including:

    2. Autumn Respiratory Seminar

      Seminar
      Click image to enlarge

      An Autumn Respiratory Seminar was organized on 24 September 2006. The program included a symposium on "The Development of Respiratory Medicine in Hong Kong" to highlight the outstanding achievements made by researchers and clinicians in Hong Kong over the last two decades in different aspects of Respiratory Medicine.

      Representatives from sister societies actively participated in the seminar which was attended by 400 members and professionals.

    3. Publication of an anniversary bulletin and production of a special CD.

    4. A series of radio talks were delivered by members in September 2006 to educate public on respiratory health and disease.

    5. A Respiratory Health Walkathon 2006 was held on 5 November 2006.

      Walkathonists
      Click image to enlarge

      The event aimed to raise community awareness of the importance of lung health and to educate public on various respiratory diseases. It was attended by more than 300 doctors, nurses and allied health professionals and patient groups and received wide press converge.

      After the walkathon, there were booths exhibition on lung health and diseases and free lung function testing offered to citizens. The walkathon was very well received.

    6. BOLD Study: The research committee of the Society and ACCP (HK & M Chapter) proposed a burden of lung disease (BOLD) project. The purpose of the study is to provide comprehensive information from available data on the incidence, consequence, and trend of respiratory diseases and the economic burden of these diseases in Hong Kong which is necessary for inform policy-making.

    7. A public talk on COPD was delivered on 25 November 2006 as part of society effort to promote CODP day.

  2. Banning of indoor smoking in Hong Kong

    The three societies have mounted 3 press conferences (2002, 2005 and 2006) to register our strong appeal to ban indoor environmental tobacco smoke. A letter with more than 400 signatures from health care workers was also sent to Hong Kong Government in 2001 to support Government's amendment of Anti-smoking Ordinance. Finally, the smoking ordinance was amended in October 2006 and smoking will be prohibited in all indoor workplaces and public places and indoor areas of all restaurants with effect from 1 January 2007. This is a major triumph for all health-care professionals of Hong Kong.

  3. ESAP

    The Council of the Society and Executive Committee of ACCP (HK & M Chapter) supported and endorsed to co-host Education Seminar Asia Pacific (ESAP) meeting with APSR. We hope future collaboration with APSR with chest societies of Hong Kong will be further developed to benefit both professionals and patients in this region.