New Secretary General Takes Over At World Medical Association
Dr. Delon Human, a 35 year old family physician from Pretoria in
South Africa, has taken up his post as Secretary General of the
World Medical Association. He succeeds Dr. Ian Field who has retired
after four years in the job.
Dr. Human, a member of the Federal Council of the Medical Association
of South Africa and a Past President of this Association's Gauteng
North Branch, qualified as a family practitioner in 1985. After
spending time at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, England
doing research in Paediatric Endocrinology he gained two further
Master degrees in Family Medicine and a Diploma in Child Health.
He then practiced as a family doctor in Pretoria, during which time
he also set up his own consultancy business in health care management.
Commenting on his new job, Dr. Human said: "I am delighted
to have taken on such an exciting and challenging task. The World
Medical Association sees a major new role for itself in the years
ahead."
The association is very concerned about the growing trend where
the health care needs of patients are often secondary to the cost
of the services. The financial constraints facing health care
providers are complex and real, but it is abhorrent for governments
to spend so much more on areas of defence than on the health care
needs of our patients.
"I have watched a small baby die in my hands of measles,
which could have been prevented by a single injection delivered
in an effective health care system. The deep sense of hurt, and
the painful knowledge that we as physicians could, and should,
have made a difference in that small baby?s life, will remain
with me for the rest of my life. I believe that the WMA is uniquely
placed to make a difference for the patients of the world, and
I am fully committed to serve our profession and our patients."
The WMA is also becoming increasingly concerned about the trend
where physicians are put under pressure to perform unethical medical
tasks, and where their basic human rights are violated. Patients
do not have free access to health care services in many parts
of the world, and doctors are not always allowed to provide patients
with the care they need. For instance, it is impossible for a
male gynaecologist to treat female patients in Afghanistan. Female
physicians are not allowed to practice in that country. A previous
Secretary-General of the Nigerian Medical Association is in jail
for political reasons, and the government there refuses to supply
the reasons for the detention. So there are many other examples
of human rights violations, and for this reason the WMA has requested
the UN to consider the appointment of a Rapporteur on the protection
of human rights in the health care field. The WMA will also focus
on these problems as an organisation in the next few years.
Dr. Human can be contacted at the WMA head office in Ferney-Voltaire,
France on +33 450 40 75 75, where the staff will put you in contact
with him wherever he is. He also has a personal E-mail address:
delon@wma.net
|
