MINUTES OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
VILAMOURA- PORTUGAL, OCTOBER 20, 2006. Time: 12.45 - 14.30.
1. Nomination of the Council Members:
The president, according to article 4(a) of the Statute, asks the present members of each country to nominate their delegate for the COUNCIL of the G.A. The members of the Council are:
1. Cyprus: Nicolas Christodoulou
2. Italy: Franco Cirillo
3. Slovenia: Crt Marincek
4. Spain: Amparo Martinez Assucena
5. Tunisia: Hajer Rahali
6. Turkiye: Gulseren Akyuz
7. Egypt: Mohamed El-Abd
8. Israel: Nachum Soroker
9. Servia Gordana Devecerski
10. Portugal: Jorge Lains
11. Hellas: Xanthi Michail
12. Romania: Mihai Berteanu
13. Algeria: Houria Kaced
14. Albania: Fatmira Reci
Other present members from each country were the following:
From Turkiye: Dilsad Sindel, Tansu Arasil, Fitnat Dincer, Aydan Oral, Banu Kuran,
Resa Aydin,
From Israel: Haim Ring, Itzhak Siev-Ner, Iuly Treger,
From Italy: Alessandro Giustini, Foti Calogero,
From Portugal: Pedro Cantista,
From Spain: Enrique Varela Donoso,
From Slovenia: Hermina Damjan, Tatjana Erjavec, Metka Presern - Strukelj,
Helena Burger, Breda Jesensek Papez, Dragan Lonzaric.
2. PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS:
The president welcomes all the 33 members and delegates from the above 14 countries. He explains the efforts done during the last 2 years, to enlarge and promote the "Forum", which from 147 members in Antalya, has now 246 members coming from 22 different countries. This is an increase of 67%, thanks to the efforts of the Board members. He asks all the present members to contribute to this effort by inviting their friends PRM specialists, who have e-mail address, to join us in the Forum. They can apply through our web site. He mentioned that he sends informative letters to all the members at least twice annually and a lot of letters on individual basis
For our official journal Europa Medicophysica, the president refers that the amount of the works submitted for publication to the journal has risen up significantly since it was approved for indexing on July 2005. The Chief-Editor Dr. Stefano Negrini is trying to reduce the time needed for the peer reviews till publication of an approved article. The journal is now published 4 times per year regularly. He refers to the creation of our web site (www.mfprm.org), and thanks the Secretary Gulseren Akyuz for her contribution to this matter. Pr. Akyuz explains to all how she managed to set up the new web site and find a sponsor not only for the initial phace, but for the next 3 years as well. She believes that before the expiration of the 3 years, the same or another sponsor will take the responsibility to continue the operation of the Forum web site.
The president once again, on behalf of all, thanks the Forum Vice President Dr. Jorge Lains and the president of the Portuguese Society of PRM, for their warm hospitality to all of us and the great efforts they have done together with the rest of their Portuguese colleagues for the success of the 6th Mediterranean Congress. He asks Dr. Jorge Lains if he would like to say anything to the present members for the Congress. Dr. Jorge Lains welcomes in Vilamoura the members of the Forum. He explains the procedures he followed till now for the organization of the Congress and expresses his satisfaction for the mutual co-operation with the Board till today. The participants have reached the number of 620 coming from 46 countries. The Portuguese colleagues are 316, representing the 51% of all the participants. 40 colleagues came from Spain, 38 from Turkiye, 29 from Israel, 20 from Greece, 15 from Serbia and 12 from USA. All the colleagues from the developing countries had free or a waved registration (equal to the amount of the expenses).
During the Congress 248 posters will be presented and 272 lectures (100 Key-note lectures and 172 oral presentations). He expresses his wishes for further development of the Forum in the future.
3. BOARD PROPOSALS FOR STATUTE CHANGES:
The president refers to the decision taken during the last General Assembly in Antalya: "to find a way to honour Haim Ring and to have him with us, for his contribution in organising the first Mediterranean Congress in Israel and consequently helping the organization of the next Mediterranean congresses, as well as founding together with others the Forum. The G.A. had entitled the new Board to study the problem, find a transitional solution, conclude to a proposal and bring it to the next General Assembly". The president explains that the Board, after several advices from advocates, concluded to propose to the GA a statute change, by which the Board, besides the seven elected members, may have few honorary but active Board members. The first one can be nominated Pr. Haim Ring. Thanks to Dr. Jorge Lains, Pr. Haim Ring was invited to participate to the Board meetings of October 2005 and October 2006, giving his important advices to the several Forum and congress problems. Also, the Board suggests another change to our statute, so as the Forum can accept as active members individuals who are at the final stage of their PRM training. This has become a necessity since we wish the trainees who participate in the Euro-Mediterranean PRM School in Syracuse (Italy) to be eligible for membership to the Forum. The proposals are for the following highlighted changes of the Statute's articles 3 (a), 5 (a), 6(2) and 8(3):
"3. Membership: The Forum will consist of Active & Emeritus members: a. Active members: Open to all qualified physicians specialised in PRM and to physicians being at the final stage of their PRM training, who are working in any Mediterranean country or a country with close vicinity with Mediterranean Sea, irrespective of race, religion or community".
"5. Election of Officers and Board":
a. The Board shall consist of seven elected active members: The President, the Vice-President (who is the Organiser in charge of the next Mediterranean Congress), the Secretary, the Treasurer, and three members of the Board. Also, the Board may have honorary members (not more than the half number of the elected members each time), who are nominated by the General Assembly to serve the Board till they will retire from full tie professional activity. Then they are eligible for Emeritus membership. Such members can be individuals who made a significant contribution to the creation and further development of the Mediterranean Society.
"6. Board":
2.The Board meets at least once a year. The Meeting is in quorum if the President and three elected members of the Board are present. Decisions are made with simple majority vote but in the case of a draw the President's vote shall be the winning one.
"8. Mediterranean Congress":
- A national organizing committee will be responsible for all aspects of the scientific and social programs. A scientific committee will be appointed by the national organizing committee, which will be responsible for the scientific merit and content of the congress sessions. The Board of the Forum must have a meeting in the host country about one year before the Congress, to ensure the relevance and quality of scientific contributions and to discuss any problem of the next congress and of the Forum. Also, another meeting of the Board will take place during the Congress and prior the General Assembly. The expenses of these two meetings of the Board, including traveling and hotel expenses for the seven elected and honorary members of the Board will be considered as expenses of the Congress and covered by the Congress budget as contribution to the Forum for its function. The seven elected members of the Board and the honorary members are invited to the Congress as speakers to give lectures in several fields of PRM.
4. Discussion:
The president invites anyone who would like to commend on the above Board proposals. Alessandro Giustini from Italy, says that he accepts these changes of the statute but the new Board must ask all the members and collect suggestions for other articles of the statute which might need change as well. For example, the presidency of the Forum must not be given to the candidate who receives the most votes but we must find another way every two years to have another president, to know who is this president and for what he wants to become president for that 2 years. For the secretary it is not necessary to change every 2 years. Also, we must introduce mechanisms (e.g. committees) to involve many other people to our activities. And we must focus on what makes our Forum stronger. Then, Mohamed El Abd from Egypt, mentioned that he was expecting to receive the minutes of the last (Antalya) General Assembly and the several proposals for the Statute changes, long before the Assembly, so as everybody would have the opportunity to discuss the several different opinions. The president answers that the minutes of the Antalya Gen. Assembly were sent by him to all the members since 12/10/04 and anyone could make comments if something was not written properly. The proposal for the statute changes are according to the directions, the participants of the last GA had given to the Board and reminds that one of the Council members was Mohamed El Abd, who agreed that we must find a solution to have always Haim Ring with us. Mohamed El Abd said that we must discuss the proposals of Alessandro Giustini and we must find a way to honour Salvatore Jaquinto, who was also one of the pioneers in founding the Forum. Jorge Lains said that, all the comments for other changes of the statute have been written and the new Board must focus on them and ask all the members if they have other suggestions to send them as well. But no other changes could be done without the careful consideration of the Board first. Haim Ring said that he believes, "in spite of and above apparent discrepancies we may have, as free individuals on different things and based on the activities we have conducted together so far, all the people present in the meeting believe in a better future for the region and that we should stick together and keep working together for the benefit of the future generations". The president said that there was not enough time for long-lasting discussions about the Statute changes and asked if anybody wanted to comment anything else upon the Board proposals, which were in front of the GA. No one else mentioned anything additional and the president asked the members of the COUNCIL to vote. The majority of the council members voted in favour of the changes as presented by the Board. At this point, the president presented the Board suggestion for the first Honorary Board member to be Pr. Haim Ring and asked the Council members to vote. DECISION: Pr. Haim Ring became the 1st Honorary Board Member unanimously. The president congratulates Pr. Haim Ring and asks him if he would like to say anything. Pr. H. Ring expressed his deep thanks to all the people who honoured him, by inaugurating him as an honorary board member and promised that he will continue working hard for the benefit of our Society and all our members around Mediterranean Sea. He mentioned that he will participate to the Board as an individual and not as the representative of his country, with all that this means.
5. EURO-MEDITERRANEAN PRM SCHOOL (EMPRMS): The president, on behalf of all the Board members expresses our gratitude to Dr. Franco Cirillo, for his efforts to make it financially possible for this year also, to operate the second course of the School, which will be in Syracuse from 20-24.11.2006 under the general title: "Pain and Mobility". He refers to the process followed for the selection of the participants: Each Italian University with PRM speciality will choose and send one trainee. The Forum president has sent letters to all Mediterranean countries representatives of national PRM Societies to choose individuals from their country and send him till 30.9.06 a list of 3 persons in hierarchical sequence. The Forum in co-operation with the General Director of the School Dr. Cirillo promised that at least the first person of each list would be accepted to the School. Also, he emphasises that we had 16 applications and despite the fact of only 12 posts available for non Italians, Dr. Cirillo arranged the School to accept all the 16 applicants. The non Italian participants are coming from: SERBIA (1), SLOVENIA (1), PORTUGAL (3), GREECE (3), SPAIN (1), EGYPT (2), ISRAEL (3) and TURKIYE (2). It is expected to participate to the School another 24-28 Italian colleagues. Dr. Cirillo explains to all the procedures followed to reach the present result and gives the following details for the School scientific program: The venue of the School will be at: "Giovanni Paolo II" - Santuario Madonna delle Lacrime, Syracuse (Italy). The scientific program by day is available for copies to anyone interested.
6. NEXT 7th MEDITERRANEAN CONGRESS IN PORTOROSE (2008):
Crt Marincek prepared a power point presentation with details for this Congress, the main of them are: It will take place from 18-21.9.2008. The Congress Venue will be at the "Grand Hotel Bernardin" (5 stars). Other hotels around are available for the participants, like "Hotel Istrion" (4 stars) etc. Portorose has a very good access from the airports of Ljubljana, Trieste and Venice. The national Adria Airlines are now member of the Star Alliance. The inspection Board visit and generally the MFPRM Board meeting will take place on 26 - 28 October 2007.
- 8th MEDITERRANEAN CONGRESS IN 2010:
The president refers that he had a letter of intent for organisation of the 2010 congress in ISRAEL, by the president of the Israeli Society of PRM Dr. Nachum Soroker. He asks Dr. Soroker to present his case. Dr. Soroker said that his Society is ready to help the Forum, since no other interest was expressed till recently for the 2010 congress. He can organise the congress in a town other than Herzlia and combine it with the national Rehabilitation congress which usually attracts 700 persons (physicians and non physicians). The president expresses his interest to organise the 2010 in Limassol of Cyprus. Always was concerned for the congress success on participation level, since the PRM specialists in Cyprus are only 9. But yesterday Pr. Xanthi Michail promised him that in 2010 the Hellenic Society of PRM will organise its national congress in Limassol together with the Mediterranean and this is a great encouragement. A DVD presentation of the 5 star "Hawai Grand Hotel" where is possible the congress to be organised followed. Dr. Nachum Soroker said that the Israeli colleagues wanted to help the Forum since it was thought that we had no other candidacy. After the presentation of Limassol he withdraws the candidacy of Israel. All present members thanked Dr. Soroker for his positive approach and a decision was made the 2010 congress to be organised in Limassol of Cyprus.
8. ELECTION OF THE NEW BOARD:
The president states that, according to the article 5 of the Statute, all the members of the Council are eligible for candidates for the 6 posts of the new Board. The post of Vice President has already been given to Crt Marincek who will focus on the organisation of the next Congress in Portorose of Slovenia. President will become the nominee who will receive the most votes of the Council. The president asks who are interested to be candidates for the new Board from the Council members. The participants can propose anyone from the 14 Council members, even their selves. A list of seven candidates was written according to the proposals. The candidates were the following: Franco Cirillo, Nicolas Christodoulou, Jorge Lains, Xanthi Michail, Nachum Soroker, Gulseren Akuyz and Amparo Martinez Assucena. A secret voting followed. Each member of the Council could vote from 0-6 nominees. The 6 nominees who have taken the most votes and together with the Vice President Crt Marincek and the honorary member Haim Ring form the new Board, are the following:
1. Nicolas Christodoulou (Cyprus): 12 votes.
2. Franco Cirillo (Italy): 11 "
3. Jorge Lains (Portugal) 10 "
4. Gulseren Akyuz (Turkiye): 10 "
5. Xanthi Michail (Greece) 6 "
6. Amparo M. Assucena (Spain) 5 "
President becomes Nicolas Christodoulou (Cyprus) who received the most votes.
Since there was nothing else to be discussed, the General Assembly was adjourned at 2.30 p.m.
Nicolas Christodoulou, MD, PhD,
President of MFPRM.
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