President's Messages
Galle Clinical Society established in 1940, which was transformed to an association in 1992, named Galle Medical Association. It is considered the second oldest professional medical organization in Sri Lanka and has an illustrious history of academic achievements spanning 80 years. GMA has grown from strength to strength due to the contributions of its members under the leadership of Past Presidents over the time and now considered as one of the major medical organizations in the country. I consider it as a unique honour and a privilege to serve as the President of this prestigious Association after having completed my tenure as the President of the College of Specialists in Rheumatology and Rehabilitation Sri Lanka, just a couple of months back.
The main founding objective of GMA was to promote, the advancement of Medical Sciences and to propagate information and diffuse knowledge among the members. The year 2020 mark the beginning of a new decade and our theme for the year 2020 is “Stepping into new decade of health information and research; connecting with the community to deliver better healthcare”.
We have planned many activities in keeping with our theme along with other regular events for the benefit of our membership. Community outreach program is planned to address the medical officers in the periphery and the general public. Updating medical officers with current medical knowledge is considered important in uplifting the primary health care delivery and GMA is planning to meet them in different forums in the community. Meeting general public to address their health issues and to educate them on various aspects of health is another activity planned. Regular training programs for doctors sitting for post graduate examinations are being conducted regularly. Promotion of research interest in doctors by conducting interactive sessions on “Research Proposal Development” while running the research help desk at the GMA office is another major area where the GMA will focus in this year.
We are proud that since last year GMA became the only medical organization in Sri Lanka to live webcast the proceedings of symposia conducted by Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. GMA has been conducting many regular events over the years. Organizing sports tournaments and leisure activities by way of musical evenings, promoting creative writing, organizing trips for its membership and their family members, celebrating national cultural and religious events like Sinhala and Tamil New Year, Vesak and Christmas are some of them. We are planning to introduce photography as a new activity during this year. The pinnacle of our efforts will be the Annual Scientific Sessions which is the major medical conference in the region and scheduled to be conducted over two days in September.
Amongst other new introductions to GMA activities one of the ambitious project is to compile the 80 years of GMA history. Very little is known about the earlier days of our association and I appeal all of you to send in whatever historical information, documents or photographs you have, regarding GMA either physically or electronically.
GMA has come a long way and has delivered immensely to the society and its membership. I am confident that together with my dedicated committee as a team we can achieve our objectives and take the GMA to even greater heights.
Dr. Kalum Deshapriya
President, GMA - 2020
