The 16th AFCMA Congress was successfully held in Kyoto, Japan 13-13 Nov 2016. There were altogether 308 participants consisting of Medical doctors,Nurses, Medical students and the Religious from all over the world. The Theme of the Congress was “What Should we Do for The Least Of Our Brethern ” Mathew 25:40.Dr. Buichi Ishijima was the Organising Chairman whist the Japan Catholic Medical Association (JCMA) was the host country.

The Congress started with an Opening Mass on 10/11/15 at the Brighton Hotel presided by Archbishop Manyo Maeda (Osaka Archbishop Diocese). This was followed by the Opening Ceremony.The Congress was declared open by Dr. Shigeki Hitomi President of the JCMA. There was a parade of Flags whereby each participating Member country of AFCMA was required to carry their own respective flag and paraded into the Hall to the applause of everyone!Congratulatory speeches were given by the Nuncio to Japan Archbishop Joseph Chennoth and Prof Palma Sgreccia –the Representative of the Pontifical Council of HealthCare workers.

The guests were then ushered into the Reception Hall where the guests were treated to food and drinks and entertained to by Japanese Classical Music.

All the lectures were held at the Shiran Kaikan Kyoto University.

The Congress proper started with the traditional  Alimurung lecture which was delivered by Dr. Masayo Takahashi an expert on stem cell transplant. Dr. Masayo is the Project leader of the lab for Retinal research Regeneration at RIKEN.She gave a very detailed talk about retinal cell therapy using iPS cells.AMD or age related macular degeneration is caused by the degeneration of the retina called retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and is a major cause of visual impairment in advanced countries.Dr. Masayo and her Team aim to develop a treatment that replace damaged RPE made from the patient’ own iPS cell to rescue photoreceptors in the neural retina.

The subsequent scientific program was divided into Sessions 1 to 8.

Session 1: This session was on ‘Health Care system for elderly Clergy.”

Here various speakers from Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan spoke about the problems in helping elderly priests and Nuns in their respective countries and what needed to be done in terms of money. medical aid and accommodation for them. In Taiwan the Elderly Clergy in Taiwan are blessed  because the Taiwan Govt give National Health Insurance for >97% of

the population. So the elderly Clergy in Taiwan are kept healthy and are well cared for.

Session 2:This Session was devoted to AIDS.Dr. Yovita and Laniyati talked about the Outcome of HIV Pregnant Women in Indonesia. Dr.Juliet mathew presented the picture of AIDS in Malaysia  together with Dr. Benedict Sim whislt Dr. Kazuko Ito and Makoto Kobayashi talked about the present status and challenges of HIV/AIDS in Japan.

Session 3; “Care for the Aged patients in their Terminal stage”

Dr. Freddie Loh spoke on the Advanced Directives Perspective. As Euthanasia, Ordinary and Extraordinary Care, DNR or Do Not Resuscitate and Physician Assisted Suicide are all associated with End Of life care these conditions were descried briefly so as to assist those Catholics who are not sure of what are our Church’s teachings.Dr. George Isajiw spoke about Advanced Directives and Living Wills in the U.S..Dr. Buichi talked about allowing “Natural Death” of the Aged People in Nursing Institutions or their own Homes in Japan.whislt Dr. Peter Au Yeong talked about “Human dignity at the End Of Life”.

Session 4:”Protecting the rights of Children, especially trafficking and abuse of small children.” There are 5 speakers here.Dr. Sharon Gopalan from Malaysia pointed out that by far the commonest identified form on Human trafficking is sexual exploitation at 79% followed by forced labour at 18% and others including Organ Removal at 3%.

Dr.Majiko Okuyama discussed about Child abuse Prevention in Japan. Her Hospital in Tokyo started the SCAN (Suspected Child Abuse  and Neglect) Team in 2012 and now has >100 cases a year.

Dr. Taiji Hasuda spoke on “the Cradle of the Stork”.His Jikei Hospital started the “Cradle of the Stork” service which is a baby hatch whereby babies that cannot be cared for are anonymously deposited into his Hospital’s care.In total 112 babies had been left in their care but 40-50 newborn babies are unfortunately abandoned each year causing several deaths.D. Waty Sumiati talked about Child Maltreatment Intervention in Indonesia. She said that Child maltreatment is an act or series of acts of commission or omission by parents or other care givers that results in harm or threat of harm to a child. Preventing child maltreatment before it starts is possible and requiress a multi sectorial approach.

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I found the final talk of the day by Dr. Tomoko Hitomi daughter of Dr. Hitomi President of JCMA on “Fair Trade” most interesting. She said that Fair Trade can be a positive option for changing the world in a better way.According to her the World is divided into the “South” or developing countries where numerous socio-economic problems needed to be tackled viz. poverty, gender discrimination,drug abuse, human trafficking,etc..The “North” is the already developed countries which need to look back on their lifestyles and consumption of more that their need.Dr. Tomoko has been running a FAIR TRADE social enterprise with the help of NGOs in the SOUTH. Their do without the middleman so that the profits made from her sales eg. fresh mangoes , packaged salted fish are given directly to the poor i.e. the seller of the product.

FIAMC  EXCO Meeting took place after this session at 19:00 at the Garden Palace Hotel.

Session 5: Contributions from Outside of the AFCMA.Dr. Francois Blin gave us a dissertation on the creation of FIAMC 50 yrs ago as an independent and

democratic Federation with Statute approval from the Holy See.

Session 6:was on Post Disaster Care in Japan whereby our Japanese friends to;d us how via their various Associations  helped the victims of the earthquake disasters that befell Japan.

Session 7:Poster Session. All the Member Countries of AFCMA and NGOs put up their Posters depicting what their Association/NGO had been doing the last few years.

This was like a mini Country Report. Unfortunately no prizes were given for the best Poster.

Sessions 8,9,10 and 11″:Free Paper sessions. Altogether there were 24 Free Paper Presentations that run concurrently in two adjacent halls.There were diverse topics giving the participants  a whole range of topics to choose from.

Sunday 13 Nov 2013:Last day of the Congress. The Scientific Session ended with the Country Reports: given by the various Member Countries under the umbrella of AFCMA.Each country was required to give a 5 min description of what their Association had been doing to help their own members and also their fellow country men and outreach Programs Overseas if applicable.

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The 16th AFCMA Congress came to a close with the Closing Ceremony and Mass.

AFCMA Exco Meeting: This took place on Sat 12 Nov 2016 during lunch break.The principal Officers were elected.

Malaysia won the bid to host the 17th AFCMA Congress in Malaysia! 2020!

Banquet Night: On a lighter note on Banquet Night the participants were treated to a sumptuous dinner at the Brighton Hotel.Each Country was requested to put up a show to entertain the guests and show off their talent.Everyone left that night feeling happy as they had the opportunity to mingle around with their Brothers and Sisters whom they had not seen for the past few years.Indeed new friends were made and existing friendship strenthened that night between our fellow  Members.

Conclusion: We must all thank Dr. Buichi and his 16th AFCMA Organising Committee for organising the highly successful and enjoyable Congress in Kyoto, Japan. We need to also thank Dr. Hitomi and the Japan Catholic Medical association (JCMA) for hosting the Congress.

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SAYONARA to Japan and SELAMAT DATANG (Welcome) to Malaysia in 2020 for the 17th AFCMA Congress.