he Society has gone a long way since its early days and has faithfully and actively pursuing the objectives of the Society in a four-prong approach:-
1. Advancement of Knowledge in Child Health Care
The Society organizes many functions in order to advance the knowledge of child care professionals. There are clinical meetings rotating through all major paediatric units . The Society has at least one scientific meeting each month , with distinguished speakers invited locally and from overseas.
Two scientific meetings are of special significance - the C. Elaine Field Lecture and the James H. Hutchison Memorial Lecture named after two most distinguished professors in Hong Kong.
The Society has also organized many international meetings either solely or in collaboration with other organizations. Some notable ones were:
all of which were well attended by local and overseas participants.
2. To Maintain High Standard of Child Health Care
To promote and maintain the standard of paediatric practice in Hong Kong the Society organizes a number of postgraduate activities including regular scientific meetings, seminars and workshops. The Hong Kong Journal of Paediatrics forms a forum for local and overseas paediatricians to present their scientific papers and research. With mandates from the Councils of HKPS and HKCP, the new Journal becomes the official Journal of both bodies but is managed by an independent Editorial Board consisting of nominated members from HKPS and HKCP. In addition, current problems are addressed by experts in their field through our bi-monthly Education Bulletin, established since 1994. Copies of the Bulletin have been sent to China, Taiwan and Singapore.
The Travelling Fund Committee was set up in 1989. Its aim is to elect and sponsor members to attend important overseas conferences, as part of the continuing medical education programme. In 1997/1998, we sponsored 11 paediatricians and trainees to attend 7 different international paediatric conferences.
3. Promotion of Child Health through Public Education
The Society is foremost amongst the medical societies in Hong Kong in contributing to health education to the public. There are regular public lectures and exhibitions on child care problems e.g. childhood injury, congenital heart diseases, common infectious diseases, child care and development etc. Members of the Society regularly submit articles to newspapers and appear on TV and radio programmes on child health. The aim is to educate the public on normal and abnormal development. Besides, the Society also organizes regular teaching courses for doctors, nurses, midwives and other child care professionals working in maternity and child health centres.
4. Comradeship
Apart from being a forum for exchange of academic and professional ideas, the Society is also an organization encouraging comradeship, bringing all the child health care professionals together. There are numerous social functions organised by the Society each year, such as the Annual Dinner immediately following the Annual General Meeting, Annual Christmas Dinner Gathering and summer picnic etc. They are all well attended by members and their families. To inform members of important events occurring in the Society, we have a monthly Newsletter, and a Year Book which contains official events of the Society, updated membership list and information on specialty clinics and so on.