3rd ASEAN Federation of Internal Medicine (AFIM) Congress
Patrick Alguire, MD, FACP
ACP Senior Vice President, Medical Education
Jack Ende, MD, MACP, ACP President-Elect, and I attended the joint meeting of the 3rd ASEAN Federation of Internal Medicine (AFIM) Congress and the 3rd annual ACP Southeast Asian Chapter meeting, and the 14th meeting of the Indonesian Society of Internal Medicine (PAPDI). AFIM is an umbrella organization for the Indonesian Society of Internal Medicine (PAPDI), Academy of Medicine of Malaysia, Philippine College of Physicians, College of Physicians, Singapore, and the Royal College of Physicians of Thailand. The meeting was held in Jakarta, Indonesia, home of 10 million Indonesians.
The ACP Southeast Asian Chapter was established on July 1, 2013. As of October 2016 it had 586 members. The chapter is comprised of member physicians from the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia. The Southeast Asian Chapter Governor is Oscar Ty Cabahug, MD, FPCP, FACP, Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, UERM Memorial Medical Center, Quezon City, Philippines. The Governor Elect is Alan Ng, MD, FACP from Singapore. Dr. Ng will take office in 2018.
The first day of the meeting included an introduction of Dr. Ende as the plenary speaker. Jack spoke brilliantly on “Back to the Bedside: The Way Forward.” He was able to speak briefly about the ACP products and services as well. The opening ceremony was made most notable by a rousing singing of the Indonesian national anthem accompanied by photographic montage and then the singing of the Indonesian Society of Internal Medicine song. Following the singing, the audience was entertained with a wonderful dance by four recent medical school graduates. The dance reflected the cultural traditions in Jakarta. The dances from the many other parts of Indonesia are different and reflect regional cultural traditions.
Several enthusiastic students attended the meeting. This group recently passed their boards and all intend to enter the primary care work force in Indonesia following internship.
Dr. Ende and I presented, “Management of Risk Factors to Prevent Cardiovascular Disease: Eight Cases to Challenge your Knowledge.” The cases were taken from MKSAP and we included a short introduction of this product at the beginning of the presentation.
For photos from this meeting, visit the Ambassadors in Action section of ACP Online.