America Nepal Medical Foundation (ANMF) successfully conducted its 23rd Annual Meeting of Members in Washington DC
America Nepal Medical
Foundation (ANMF) successfully conducted its 23rd Annual Meeting of Members in
Washington DC on May 10-12, 2019. The theme of the conference was Health Policy
of Nepal. Over 250 attendees from United States, Nepal, UK and Germany attended
the conference. Over the three days, members of ANMF discussed about its
achievements and future plans, discussed on health care
policy in Nepal and
listened to speakers from various parts of the globe. The conference organizing
committee members under the leadership of Dr Guna Raj Subedi and Dr Sunil
Sharma worked diligently to make this event one of the most memorable and
successful in the ANMF history.
The program kicked off
with an early morning cycling event coordinated by Dr. Rajesh Subedi on Friday
May 10, 2019. In the evening, registration of the attendee was initiated
followed by dinner and networking events.
On May 11th 2019,
the conference started with a welcome speech by ANMF President, Dr Santosh
Sapkota. He summarized the work, vision and goals of ANMF. Dr. Ramesh Kharel,
Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health and Population of Nepal, updated the
audience on the current state of health policy of Nepal and shared Nepal
Government's plans and policies. Dr Sandhya Chapagain, Associate Professor of
Oncology at the Nepal Academy of Medical Sciences (NAMS), Vice President of
Maiti Nepal and executive member at Nepal Health Research Council and Cancer
Care Nepal discussed the challenges of cancer diagnosis and treatment in Nepal.
Dr Arne Drews, from NepalMed, Germany spoke on the work that was done by his
organization and shared his experiences of working in rural Nepal. Dr Shreedhar
Paudel, from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School,
founding executive director of Health Foundation Nepal (HFN) spoke on
Psychiatric Care and Mental Health Policy in Nepal. H.E. Ambassador of Nepal
Dr. Arjun Karki spoke on overall health care policy and collaboration
opportunities.
During the lunch
session, Dr Dinesh Neupane, research associate form the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg
School of Public Health presented his research on epidemiology of
Non-Communicable Diseases in Nepal; Dr Pranav Koirala, emergency medicine
resident spoke about emergency and prehospital Care while Dr Maniraj Neupane,
internal medicine resident highlighted on the Mountain Medicine Society of
Nepal and their diploma program on mountain medicine.
Afternoon session
included presentations by Prof Dr Narayan Thapa, Vice President, Nepal Medical
Council. He talked about health care policy in Nepal and role of the Nepal
Medical Council. Dr Keshab Paudel, President of NRNA-USA, presented on future
opportunities to collaborate with ANMF. This was followed by an interactive
Panel Discussion on Healthcare Policy in Nepal, moderated by Dr. Subash
Pyakurel. Panel included Dr. Ramesh Kharel, Joint secretary, Ministry of
Health. Dr. Shabin M. Joshi, President of Nepalese Doctors’ Association UK, Dr.
Libby Wilson from ANMF US and Dr. Subhash Acharya from ANMF Nepal. The session
concluded with ANMF US treasurer report and report from ANMF Nepal.
A fundraising dinner
was organized which concluded successfully with donation pledges of more than
USD $150,000. More than 250 guests attended this event. During the dinner, ANMF
Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Dr Gaury Adhikary.
The meeting concluded
on Sunday May 12, 2019 with the formation of the new executive committee and
several other working committees. The next annual conference will be on May
1-3, 2020 in Cleveland, Ohio. Drs Elina Shakya, Dixa Dhital, Ganesh Chaudhary,
Anu Shrestha, Shalin Shakya, and Shreebatsa Dhital will lead the organizing
committee.
A new board comprising
of 19 members was formed which unanimously elected new President, Dr Santosh
Sapkota along with Vice President Dr Bhupesh Khadka, Secretary, Dr Binod
Khadka, and Treasurer, Kalpana Shrestha. Other members include Anil Suwal MD,
Binod Dhungana MD, Bishnu Sapkota MD, Chandra P. Chataut MD, Dinesh Mainali MD,
Dinesh Subedi MD, Ganesh Chaudhary MD, Julia Shepardson, Libby Wilson MD,
Marvin Brustin JD, Narayan Dharel MD, Prakash Thapaliya MD, Richard Katzman MD,
Subodh Mallik MD, and Sunil Sharma MD.
Know more about our
work at www.anmf.org
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