News

5th Asia Pacific Burns Congress

The 5th Asia Pacific Burns Congress was held on November 4-7 th 2005 in Shanghai, China. It was organized by the Chinese Burn Society and Chinese Medical Association and endorsed by the International Society of Burn Injuries. Professor Yonghua Sun, President of the Chinese Burn Society and also President of the Organizing committee gave a welcome address and introduced an action packed Scientific Programme.

Honorary Presidents of the Organizing Committee were:

Professor David N HERNDON, USA
Professor of Surgery at the University of Texas Medical Branch

Professor SHENG Zhi Yong, China
Honorable Director of Burns Institute, First Affiliated Hospital with General Hospital of PLA (formerly the 304th Hospital)

Professor SHI Jixiang, China
One of the founding members of Chinese Burn Association

Dr XIAO Guang Xia, China
He has twice been the president of Chinese Burn Association

Dr YANG Jui Yung, Chinese Taipei
Director of Linkou Burn Center, Dept of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital

Vice Presidents

Professor CHEN Chung Lin, Chinese Taipei
Associate Professor, School of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University

Professor Andrew BURD, Hong Kong, China
Professor and Chief of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Surgery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Dr Shobha CHAMANIA, India
Consultant Surgeon, Choithram Hospital, Indore

Dr KIM Dong Chul, Korea
Clinical Professor, Bundang CHA Hospital

Dr GUO Zhenrong
Director of Burns Institute of 304th Clinical Department of General Hospital of PLA

Professor LIAO Zhenjiang, China
Professor of Surgery, Director of Shanghai Institute of Burns & Burn Center, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai

Professor WANG Shi Liang, China
Professor of Surgery

Secretary General

Professor XIA Zhaofan, China
Professor and Chairman of Burn Surgery, Changhai Hospital, Shanghai

The main scientific session began on the 6th of November with three plenary sessions combining 15 presentations ranging from the 'Pharmacologic Modulation of Hypermetabolic Response to Burn Injury' given by Professor Herndon from the USA to 'Low Cost Burn Care' from Shobha Chamania from India. A session on Heparin chaired by Dr Saliba from the USA kept the audience enthralled by the novel presentations. Concurrent sessions on Monday 7th November covered the broad scope of burns care with over a hundred presentations from China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Europe, North America, Australia, Hong Kong, India, Vietnam and Chinese Taipei. 123 Posters were presented from a worldwide list of contributors and the meeting proceedings contained a further 368 published abstracts. The meeting was well sponsored by the Industry and there were a number of Satellite Symposia that focused on Meek skin grafting, Suction Devices and Nanocrystalline Silver Dressings. A comprehensive social programs complemented the Scientific meeting to make the 5th Asia Pacific Burns Congress a truly memorable event.

At the conclusion of the meeting delegates representing the Asia Pacific Region listened to the proposal from the Korean delegation to host the 6th Asia Pacific Burn Congress in 2007. This was unanimously endorsed. Shobha Chamania then presented a bid from India to host the 7th Asia Pacific Burn Congress in Delhi and again this was unanimously endorsed. Professor Chuntrasakul from Thailand expressed an interest to host a future meeting and it was decided to discuss this further in Korea.

The dates for the Korean meeting have been fixed as June 3-5, 2007 in Seoul. Delegates from the Asia Pacific Region again endorsed the formation of an Asia Pacific Burn Association that would act as a regional association helping to support the promotion of the Asia Pacific Burns Congresses and work closely in conjunction with the ISBI to support and promote burns care in this very needy region of the world. The proposal that the 6th Asia Pacific Burn Congress in Korea should coincide with the inauguration of the APBA was well received by all delegates and the Steering Committee addressing the constitution of the APBA were encouraged to proceed with formalizing a proposal for discussion and endorsement in Seoul. On this positive note the 5th Asia Pacific Burn Congress in Shanghai was closed.



David Herndon, President of the ISBI shows his support for the Asia Pacific Burns Association with a smile on his face and is joined by Professor's Oh and Jang from Korea (hosts of the inaugural meeting) and Professor Burd from Hong Kong, (Chairman of the Steering Committee).

Andrew Burd
Hong Kong
Jan 2006