FPMPAM WEEKEND SEMINAR IN CARDIOLOGY FOR GPs 2010

I spend sunday in Ipoh, Tower Regency Hotel, running the FPMPAM Weekend seminar in Cardiology for GPs 2010. The whole event went well and we covered a whole range of cardiac issues, from controversies to primary and secondary prevention of heart disease. From diabtic management to hypertension and also angioplasty and drug eluting stents. The GPs ( who made up about 70% of the 200 present ) also had tutorials in ECG, in view of the Healthcare Facilities Act. There was also a short talk on the bisuness of medicine, which is getting more relevance nowadays, what with rising cost of healthcare, and big corporate institution owning hospitals and medical centers, whose only objective is " the bottomline " of profit.
I was very impress by the large turnout ( as I was warn earlier that 40-50 was the usual number ) and most of them stayed till the last session at 5pm. I was also very grateful to the faculty, some who drove all the way from KL to help to teach. This augurs well for the country in future. That young doctors in the private sector will take their valuable time off to help other doctors.
I must say that Ipoh could do with better conference facilities in hotels for these meetings of a few hundred people. Even the toilet was inadequate and the lifts was confusing, some going to some floors and not other floors.
All in all, it was a good meeting and all who came found it beneficial. In fact, two spoke to me to do it regularly. I am not sure if I have the energy to do that as we are all growing older and tire easily.
I must also thank the sponsors who turn up in good nymber to lend a festival admosphere to the event, displaying their wares and products and I see one company making direct sales, with money exchanged. This is the only one who made hard cash yesterday at the event. I am always grateful to the sponsors, as without them, I believe, this country will not have effective CME for her doctors. I hear one syory told to me that the attendance would have been better, if I had written that the meeting admission was free ( the meeting admission had a fee, paid for by the sponsors ). Some thought that they must pay. They decline to come. But when they were told later that the company would sponsor them, they signed up. That is the state of CME interest in Malaysia.
Be that as it may, the overall interest was good. We did our teaching and sharing and I hope that the doctors and the country as a whole befitted.
That was our weekend in Ipoh.