Dr. med. Wolfgang von Heymann
It was with great pleasure and a little trepidation that I accepted the post of president of FIMM at the General Assembly in Moscow on the 18th May 2006. I am prepared to face tasks of the next four years, however difficult.
FIMM gave itself a strategic outline in London in September 2005, by passing its “policy paper”. These strategic aims are identical to mine for the next years. I was fully involved in the process of producing this paper and I am totally committed to it.
For my future work I would outline the following points for special emphasis:
- Improving and standardising the education in Manual/Musculoskeletal Medicine worldwide on the basis of the Core Curriculum No.2, passed by the General Assembly in London 2005;
- Finishing the work for an actual Common Terminology Glossary (CTG), for all M/M physicians, as a crucial condition for international scientific communication as well as communication to Health Policy authorities;
- Supporting all efforts to establish M/M Medicine as a Medical process/speciality that is secure in confidence for the patient, evidence-base for the stake holders and transferability for physicians;
- Establishing the Health Policy Board and initiating its working b representing FIMM and its policies at the World Health Organisation and to other authorities.
By unanimously adopting the “FIMM-Policy-Paper” at the GA, FIMM gave M/M-Medicine a clear basis in anatomy, biomechanics and neurophysiology accepted by all, providing the best conditions are given for the executive board and all members of FIMM to resolve, worldwide, all issues concerning education, science/research and health policy in M/M Medicine.
Regretfully in certain regions of the world not all physicians working within Manual/ Musculoskeletal Medicine are represented within our federation. From FIMM’s point of view this is a disadvantage for M/M Medicine. In this regard I would like to achieve a wider integration and representation in the next years. Since Japan, Bulgaria and Kazakhstan have been accepted as new members in the last few years, even more national societies should be convinced about the necessity of affiliation with FIMM. Especially in Asia and in South America we should look to find new members.
“Globalisation” is extending to every area of Medicine. In many countries cuts are occurring in the national health budget, while a “grey” market of non-physicians offering treatments inside and outside the national heath system is growing. The patient’s access to qualified M/M Medicine physician is getting more and more difficult. FIMM therefore will support all attempts to stress the importance of treatment by qualified M/M Medicine physicians as a necessary condition for patient safety.
It has to be quite clear that FIMM can only accept affiliation of a country’s society that requires an academic medical training as a pre-condition for that society’s own membership.
FIMM now is well represented around the world. By membership of their own national society a great number of physicians are represented in FIMM. The great majority of these doctors are practitioners who see their task as a day-to-day treatment of patients.
It is, therefore, certainly regrettable and a remarkable weakness of FIMM not having developed good working relationships with other academic institutions. A lot of international medical organisations are much stronger in this respect. This is why I wish to push forward an increased cooperation with those organisations, on national or international level, connecting academic sciences with practical medicine as well as connecting basic research with basic treatment.
Finally I want to express my deep wish to do everything for our common aims, knowing very well that I cannot share my opinions with everybody.
Dr Wolfgang von Heymann