EUPSA

Newsletter 06/2007

Dear Members,

The main event of the EUPSA, the annual congress, is now over. I am sure that this congress has proven again that European paediatric surgery and the EUPSA is strong and steadily developing. Nearly 500 participants arrived from more then 50 countries of the globe. The congress was overbooked again with various scientific events besides the regular oral and poster presentations. The EUPSA accepted your criticism and critique – thank you all for that. This is why we had less papers of 3 minutes duration and more 6 minutes long presentations with more time for discussion. All posters were nicely prepared and attracted many participants for a visit during the congress. The only thing that was of concern to me was that there were not enough presentations from the Eastern part of Europe.

Continuing with my after thoughts on the Congress - there was a good balance between clinical practice and basic research. The pre-congress courses (oncology and laparoscopy) were well attended and conducted. The 2 key-note lectures presented by Alberto Pena (Duhamel Lecture: “Advances in the management of anorectal malformations”) and by John Hutson (European Lecture: “Slow transit constipation: characterizing the clinical, pathological and manometric features of a new disease”) were extremely well-received by the audience.

The other 2 courses (vecisoureteral reflux course” and “therapeutic principles in low anorectal malformations”) led by Prem Puri, and Alberto Pena and Jean-Michel Guys, were very well attended not only because they were free-of-charge courses, but they also provided high-level first-hand experience in 2 important fields of our every day activities. The 6 Meet-the-expert-lunches with well chosen topics attracted a good response from the participants.

The Rehbein Medal for 2007 was awarded to Prof. Jose Boix-Ochoa for his outstanding contribution to paediatric surgery. Ole Henri Nielsen of Copenhagen was presented with Honorary Membership for his defining role in the establishment of the present EUPSA. The whole congress with its versatile activities served the cause of EUPSA very well - to distribute knowledge amongst the paediatric surgeons in Europe and outside of our continent. Scientifically and socially the Congress again maintained enviable standards of the past EUPSA Congresses and provided a great opportunity to recharge the scientific batteries, to reinforce old friendship and to forge new ones.

The preparation for the Turin Meeting was not always smooth and easy. One of the problems was the EUPSA website which sometimes caused technical hindrance in abstract submission, handling, and registration for the congress both to the organizers and the prospective participants. We beg you pardon and thank you for your understanding.

We, Congress participants and EUPSA Executive Board, wish to thank our hosts Prof. Ferdinando Canavese and his enthusiastic team for hosting a Congress of this magnitude and the memorable experience. The EUPSA would like to invite you all for the next European Congress in Paediatric Surgery to be held in Istanbul (18-21 June, 2008).

With the Turin Meeting my 2-years presidency expired. As president it was always a pleasure to be able to correspond with you a few times each year by way of this Newsletter. Before thanking our European and non-European members for their support, I would like to draw up a short balance of the past 2 years of my presidency and briefly outline the further tasks of the EUPSA.

The EUPSA has continued its steadily growth over the past 2 years. So far we have more than 1000 members, one hundred from outside of Europe. The Offices are the back bone of the EUPSA. They perform the real work, which are outlined or decided by the General Assembly and the Executive Board. The Education, Scientific and Funding and Financial Offices and their Chairmen, Jean-Michel Guys, Prem Puri, Zacharias Zachariou and Secretary of the EUPSA Jürgen Schleef performed very well, thank you all.

Already in 2005, it had been evident that the rapidly growing EUPSA with its versatile activity needed a multifunctional website, member databank and server. A Dutch firm was charged with this work and it was promised that this firm would complete the task by the end of 2005. In spite of all efforts and work done by Dr. Paul Broens, this website has not been completed yet, causing technical difficulties not only to the organizers but to the prospective participants. Therefore, the EB had made 2 relevant changes to sort out the problems in the administration during its Budapest meeting in January 2007.

EB stopped all business with the very unreliable Dutch firm and now we are looking for a new, versatile computer firm, probably in India.
EB has hired a part-time secretary who helps the rapidly growing work of administration. I am sure that Ms. Gaia Tamaro will be of tremendous help for the EUPSA and the very busy Secretary, Prof. Jürgen Schleef.

EUPSA has a sense of responsibility for paediatric surgeons from the Eastern European countries with low income. Therefore, the EUPSA is helping their participation in the Annual Congresses with reduced registration fee. Unfortunately, fewer members applied for this financial support than the available amount of money.

The EUPSA is a poor association not because we are good spenders but because the EUPSA income is very low. This is due to, firstly, that we organize our annual meetings with low registration fee and we do not want to change this. Secondly our annual membership fee is also very modest, 30 Euros for active members and 15 Euros for trainees. In order to cover the cost of the administrative work of our association, the EB has decided in Turin to raise the membership fee from 30 to 40 Euros for active members and from 15 to 20 Euros for trainees from January 2008. We believe that this small increase is well compensated by the reduced registration fee for EUPSA congresses and the numerous EUPSA accredited courses, symposia and workshops.

During the last 2 years a number of very successful courses were organized in the Western part of Europe, under the auspices of EUPSA. Unfortunately, these meetings are a bit expensive for the young and less affording paediatric surgeons of Central and Eastern Europe. Therefore, a high level 3-day postgraduate course was organized under the auspices of EUPSA in Hungary last September where participation fee and the associated expenditures – travel and accommodation – were tailored to the incomes of the prospective participants.

Another important topic is the UEMS-EUPSA relationship which is good, constructive and improving.
UEMS and EUPSA have established a working group to prepare a curriculum for a nearly uniform postgraduate training, which we might consider as the “Syllabus of Paediatric Surgery”. This will be broader than defining the content and requirements of the Board Examination and would also outline in detail what comes under the umbrella of paediatric surgery.

Another good omen for the future since the Maastricht Congress has been the European Journal of Pediatric Surgery’s initiative to prepare a special congress issue, which shall contain the best presentations.

Going by the EUPSA constitution, there have been few changes in the EUPSA Executive Board in the last 2 years. Prof. Ahmed Hadidi’s 3-year term as Chairman Intercontinental Office expired. The new Chairman is Prof. Yasen Fayez Alalayet, from Saudi Arabia. My 2-year presidency has expired and the previous President-Elect, Prof. Juan Tovar of Madrid, has become the new President of EUPSA in Turin for the next 2 years. I am going to serve the EUPSA as Past President for 2 years. The General Assembly elected Prem Puri of Dublin as President Elect for 2 years. Michael Höllwarth after his past-president term has left the Executive Board. All EUPSA members are very grateful to Michael for his extremely important contribution to the establishment of the new EUPSA. His endless energy, his motivation for the United Europe in the field of paediatric surgery, his organizing capacity played a determining role.

Finally, I strongly believe that the future for the EUPSA is bright and promising but we are facing a few hurdles:

to complete the EUPSA website and member databank serving our multifunctional activity
to prepare the future meetings
improve the financial standing of EUPSA without increasing the congress fee
to promote and increase international and intercontinental exchanges, mainly for young members
organize high level – low cost workshops, courses and symposia through out Europe
decrease the gap between the standard of surgical care in Western and Eastern parts of Europe.

This was the last occasion that I have communicated with you in the capacity as President of EUPSA. Now I would like to thank the members of Executive Board, Chairmen and Members of the Offices, members of the EUPSA for their continuous help, support and assistance. I am sure that the new President of EUPSA Prof. Juan Tovar, will enjoy the same level of support in the next 2 years.

Andrew B. Pinter
Past President of EUPSA