AARS Newsletter January 2012

The Board of the Asian Australasian Regional section of the WFSA wishes all anaesthesiologists best wishes for 2012.

AARS Board

For 2010-2014 your Board members are:

Chair: Robert McDougall (Australia)

Vice-Chair:Chan Yew Weng (Singapore)

Secretary: Lize Xiong (PRC)

Treasurer: Eiichi Inada (Japan)

Board Members: Lutful Aziz (Bangladesh), Wayne Morriss (New Zealand), Susilo Chandra (Indonesia)

Co-opted Florian Nuevo (Philippines), Neil McLennan (New Zealand)

Lifebox

In 2010 at the 13^th AACA in Fukuoka, Japan, the AARS resolved to take responsibility for the introduction of the Global Oximetry Project to the Asian Australasian region. Distribution of oximeters through Lifebox, the charitable organisation established to run the project is now underway and oximeters have been delivered to many countries in our region. Recently, both Tonga and the Solomon Islands accepted delivery of enough oximeters to ensure that every operating room and recovery now have appropriate numbers of oximeters. These oximeters were donated by anaesthesiologists from the AARS region. Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Samoa have orders in place and a significant donation from members of the New Zealand Society of Anaesthetists will ensure that a province in central Vietnam will have reliable oximetry for the first time.

AARS member societies such as the Indonesian Society of Anaesthesiologists are working hard with their governments to include oximetry in the adaptation of the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist.

The AARS Board welcomes enquiries about Global Oximetry and Lifebox. Please refer to www.lifebox.org for more information or email rob.mcdougall@rch.org.au

World Congress of Anaesthesiology

The 15^th WCA takes place in Buenos Aires from March 25th-30th 2012. The AARS has been allocated a scientific session on Monday 26^th March 15:30-17:30 in Room 10. The following topics will be presented:

Obstetric Anaesthesia Education. Chandra, Susilo (Indonesia)

Essential Pain Management Programme. Goucke, Roger (Australia)

Challenges in Anaesthesia in South East Asia. Aziz, Lutful (Bangladesh)

Regional Anaesthesia: the experience in China. Xiong, Lize (China)

We hope to see as many AARS representatives as possible at the WCA and particularly at the AARS session.

14^th AACA in Auckland New Zealand 2014

Our next AACA will be held in Auckland from 21-25^th February 2015. Auckland is a beautiful harbour city, February brings great weather and the NZSA guarantees a stimulating program. No better excuse should be needed to visit New Zealand so plan for this meeting now!

Rob McDougall

Chair AARS