15th Int'l Congress on Infectious Diseases held in Bangkok

BANGKOK, June 16 (TNA) - Thailand hosts the 15th International Congress on Infectious Diseases (ICID) in Bangkok from June 13-16, during which medical specialists across the world learn from their colleagues about innovations and research on infectious, emerging infectious and communicable diseases, as well as unresponsiveness of germs to treatment. Dr. Porntep Siriwanarangsun, Director-General of the Thai Ministry of Public Health's Disease Control Department, said Saturday that the forum provides a platform for the global medical specialists to share their knowledge and experiences on disease surveillance and prevention, treatment of diseases, laboratory practices and other related issues. According to the senior Thai health official, some 2,718 medical specialists from 122 countries across the globe are participating in the 15th ICID, the largest portion of who are 477 Thais, followed by Indians, Malaysians and Americans. Dr. Porntep revealed that core issues discussed at the four-day forum include the epidemic of the new 2009 HIN1 strain and bird flu and progress on the development of vaccine against dengue, and that awards were also bestowed to new medical specialists with outstanding innovations or research from countries such as Netherland, Canada, Cambodia and Bangladesh. In another development, the Public Health Ministry also plans to soon hold a meeting of Thai medical personnel from local private and public hospitals in a bid to prepare them for the formation of ASEAN Community (AC) by 2015. Permanent Secretary for Public Health Dr. Paijit Warachit acknowledged that Thailand’s main concern prior to the establishment of the AC centers around the then free movement of skilled Thai medical personnel such as doctors, dentists and nurses to neighbouring countries. Actions are, therefore, to be taken to ensure that the Thai medical personnel are qualitatively ready to work overseas, and that the Kingdom can, on the other hand, deal with inflows of foreign medical personnel after the AC is formed. (TNA)