Second Medical Conference of the United Iraqi Medical Association in London

USPA NEWS - Ealing Hospital in London was the venue where the United Iraqi Medical Association (UIMA) scientific meeting took place, on Saturday 24 March 2018. The theme of the meeting was about Cardiology, where Iraqi consultants and specialist´s doctors in cardiology discussed cardiology aspects in Iraq and the UK and looked at advances in cardiology. The speakers were doctors from Iraq, UK and Ireland.

There was a mixture of two generations that sat together in harmony to review the cardiology aspects in Iraq and the facilities available back home, with all the advances in this important filed, and how to share experiences. It was interesting to see these two generations of doctors from Iraq were they share their experience in such a scientific and positive atmosphere. There is the generation of doctors who graduated and trained in Iraq and some of them completed their post-graduation training in the UK. There is a generation of Iraqi doctors who lived in the UK and graduated from British medical schools.
From Iraq, the list of speakers consists of; Dr Abdulalameer Mohsin (Vascular and Thoracic surgeon and the president of the Iraqi Medical Association, Baghdad), Dr Amal Al-Marayati (a top Iraqi Cardiologist from Baghdad), Dr Nawfal Al-Mubarak (an Anaesthetist and ITU specialist from Basrah).

From Iraq, the list of speakers consists of; Dr Abdulalameer Mohsin (Vascular and Thoracic surgeon and the president of the Iraqi Medical Association, Baghdad), Dr Amal Al-Marayati (a top Iraqi Cardiologist from Baghdad), Dr Nawfal Al-Mubarak (an Anaesthetist and ITU specialist from Basrah).
From the UK there were Dr Rasha Allamee (a Consultant Cardiologist from Imperial College in London), Dr Kadem Al-Lamee (Managing Director at ARTERIUS Limited), Dr Hassan Jasim (Consultant Cardiologist from Ireland and UK), Dr Husham Al-Shether (Consultant Anaesthetist from Royal Berkshire Hospital).
There was another list of doctors who chair the meeting´s sessions including specialists in different medical fields.

The meeting was opened by Dr Rafid Aziz, the President of the United Iraqi Association in the UK&I (UIMA), who asked the meeting to stand for a one minute's silence to remember the Iraqi martyrs who lost their lives in wars and terrorism in Iraq. Following that Dr Aziz welcomed all the attendees and talked about the history of the UIMA and how UIMA work as the platform to accommodate all the Iraqi Medical Association in the UK and Ireland.
The first part of the scientific meeting started with a presentation from Dr Kadem Allamee about “The development of Next Generation ArterioSorbâ„¢ Bioresorbable Coronary Stent“

Dr Rasha Allamee talked about her research that was published in the Lancet magazine and talked about “Meeting The Need for Placebo-Controlled Trials in Intervention. Insights from the ORBITA trial.
Dr Al-Marayati presented to the meeting the work at “Baghdad Cardiac Centre“ will a detailed review of the staff, the type of cases managed there and the type and number of interventions.
Dr Jasim presents a talk about “Setting up a Cardiology Centre“ and Dr Al-Shether presents a workshop about ECG for non-cardiologist doctors.
Dr Mohsin, the President of the Iraqi Medical Association (IMA), presented a talk about the progress made by the IMA in Iraq towards supporting the Iraqi doctors and improving the quality of the health system in Iraq. Both Dr Aziz and Dr Mohsin are working towards building a collaborative work between the Iraqi doctors inside Iraq with their colleagues outside Iraq.
Dr Mohsin went through the hot topic issues and difficulties facing the Iraqi doctors in Iraq, with the lack of security, lack of resources and the deterioration in the doctor-patient relationship that impacted the quality of health in Iraq.

There is a move towards encouraging the privatisation of the health services in Iraq. This is not without risks due to the lack of proper regulation of the services. The IMA in Iraq have moved forward in regulating the work at private clinics and hospitals but the challenges are high and there is still a big area to improve. The tribes in Iraq are interfering more in the work of the doctors. Taking complaints from patients against doctors to the tribes to follow their tribal law causing more unnecessary stress to the doctors work leading adding to the problems they already face.
The Mohsin invited all the Iraqi doctors abroad to help in supporting the health sector in Iraq in any capacity they can do. He invited them to visit Iraq and share their experiences with their colleagues in Iraq. Following that there was a time for questions from the attendees to Dr Mohsin about different aspects and the president answered them fully.

Following that, the UIMA presented the UIMA shield and certificates of achievements to some of the Iraqi doctors who worked hard to help the health field in Iraq and those who helped in the medical education in Iraq. The shields and the certificates were presented by Dr Aziz, UIMA Presidents, with highlights on the achievement of these doctors.
This meeting was another successful meeting organised by UIMA, the United Iraqi Medical Association UK and Ireland.
UIMA is an independent global medical network established to look after the professional and social needs of the Iraqi healthcare community in the UK as well as to support the development of medical/nursing education and effective healthcare policies in Iraq. It is an independent self-funding organisation that depends on the voluntary work of its members.
Thank you UIMA and well done for arranging such a high standard scientific meeting without any governmental or other organisational support or fund depending only on the voluntary work of your EC members.