Presidential New Year's Message 2006

Dr. Kgosi Letlape
President
World Medical Association

The two components of the mission statement of the WMA are ethics and access to care. Whilst a lot has been accomplished in upholding ethics, very little has been done on access to health care. As physicians, we have a duty to elevate the patient physician relationship to the next level and turn it into a patient physician partnership to improve access to health care for the populations we serve, that is our patients.

This is a challenge in all societies, albeit at a different level. Adequate human resources in health is one of the impediments for access to health care. We need to interact with other stakeholders and in particular the WHO, to find solutions to this problem. It is timely that in 2006 the WHO will be looking into the HRH challenges.

The other challenge is access to newer, more effective pharmaceutical products, in view of current patient protection laws. We need to find new incentives for innovators so that research and development is encouraged and novel ways to improve access for poorer nations and the vulnerable of society in affluent countries are better serviced.

Access to Tamiflu in relation to Avian flu is a typical example. Interacting with national policy makers to build better, more equitable health systems is a key function of our National Medical Associations. The WMA should act as a mechanism for nations to learn from each other.

As physicians we have to be more involved in the promotion of health and the prevention of disease to reduce the burden of disease on health systems. At the NMA level, those of us elected into office must rise above sectoral interests and serve the interests of, firstly, our patients and society, and secondly, physicians and other health care workers and professionals.

We need to energise our nations into being better prepared for public health disasters. It is frightening to see how ill-prepared we are for a pending Avian flu pandemic. We need to be proactive and prepare physicians to lead. We must cease to be champions of compliance and complaining and become architects in our chosen profession and leaders in society.

I will dedicate my presidential year to improve our leadership skills and building partnership with our populations to put patients first.