ASIA-PACIFIC FEDERATION FOR CLINICAL BIOCHEMISTRYAND LABORATORY MEDICINE

Annual Report 2017
1

APFCB members
Ordinary members
The following National Societies are members of the APFCB:
1. Australasian Association of Clinical Biochemists (AACB)
2. Chinese Society of Laboratory Medicine (CSLM)
3. Hong Kong Society of Clinical Chemistry (HKSCC)
4. Association of Clinical Biochemists of India (ACBI)
5. Indonesian Association of Clinical Chemistry (IACC)
6. Iranian Association of Clinical Laboratory Doctors (IACLD)
7. Japan Society of Clinical Chemistry (JSCC)
8. Korean Society of Clinical Chemistry (KSCC)
9. Malaysian Association of Clinical Biochemists (MACB)
10. Mongolian Association of Health Laboratorians (MAHL)
11. Nepal Association for Medical Laboratory Sciences (NAMLS)
12. Pakistan Society of Chemical Pathologists (PSCP)
13. Philippine Association of Medical Technologists (PAMET)
14. Singapore Association of Clinical Biochemists (SACB)
15. Association for Clinical Biochemistry, Sri Lanka (ACBSL)
16. Chinese Association for Clinical Biochemistry, Taiwan (CACB)
17. Thailand Association of Clinical Biochemists (TACB)
18. Vietnamese Association of Clinical Biochemistry (VACB)
Affiliate Members
1. Association of Medical Biochemists of India (AMBI)
2. Chinese Association of Clinical Laboratory Management (CACLM)
3. College of Pathologists of Sri Lanka (CCPSL)
4. Philippine Council for Quality Assurance in Clinical Laboratories (PCQACL)
5. Macao Laboratory Medicine Association (MLMA)
6. Nepalese Association for Clinical Chemistry (NACC)
Corporate Members
1. Abbott Diagnostics
2. Beckman Coulter
3. Becton Dickinson
4. Bio-Rad
5. Diasorin Ltd
6. Diasys Diagnostic Systems, GmbH
7. Guangzhou Wondfo Biotech Co
8. Kopran Laboratories Ltd
9. Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics
10. Randox Laboratories

11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.

2

Roche Diagnostics
Sekisui Chemical Co Ltd
Shenzen Mindray Bio-Medical Electronics Co Ltd
Siemens Healthineers
SNIBE (Shenzhen New Industries Biomedical Engineering Co Ltd)Sukraa Software Solution Pvt Ltd
SysmexTechnidata Medical Software

Office Bearers and Chairs of Standing Committees

1) Executive Board
President
Immediate Past President
Vice-President
Secretary
Treasurer
Corporate Representative

Sunil Sethi (Singapore)
Leslie Lai (Malaysia)
Endang Hoyaranda (Indonesia)
Helen Martin (Australia)
Leila Florento (Philippines)
Alexander Wong (Siemens)

2) Chairs of Standing Committees
Communications (C-Comm)
Congress and Conferences (C-CC)
Education and Laboratory
Management (C-ELM)
Scientific (C-Sci)

Praveen Sharma (India)
Elizabeth Frank (India)
Tony Badrick (Australia)
Sam Vasikaran(Australia)

3

Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between IFCC and APFCBA renewed MoU was signed in March 2017 between the Presidents andSecretaries of both organisations. A new clause in the MoU included the electionof an APFCB official within the Executive Board of the IFCC. At the APFCB Council
Meeting in Taipei, Taiwan in November 2016, it was resolved that the best suited
person for this role was the elected APFCB President. The inaugural APFCB
representative in the IFCC EB is Sunil Sethi and his term is for three years fromJan 2018- Dec 2020.

4

Annual IFCC grant
The IFCC continued to support the APFCB with CHF 10,000 in 2017. Funds were
disbursed into the APFCB Philanthropic Fund. These funds are used exclusively
for support of travel awards for young scientists to attend conferences to present
their research and for support of educational activity to the less developed
countries within the APFCB.

5WASPaLM-APFCB MoU
A renewed MoU was signed in November 2017 between the Presidents of bothorganisations. The MoU sealed the close relationship between the organisations
and underscored the importance of supporting each other during scientific andeducational events. An APFCB scientific symposium entitled Informatics andLaboratory Results, was part of the WASPaLM programme and was conducted
immediately after the MoU signing ceremony.

6

Education and Laboratory Management Committee (C-ELM)
Chair: Dr Tony Badrick (Australia)
Committee
The Committee has been restructured in 2017/18 with each member given a
responsibility for a component of the broad range of activities undertaken by the CELM. The Committee comprises the following: Environmental – Lia Gardenia
Partakusuma (Indonesia); Website development/Interpretative Comments – Tze
Ping Loh (Singapore); Vietnam Course – Ronda Greaves (Australia); MACB
Course – Elina Raja (Malaysia); Needs Survey of members – July Kumalawati(Indonesia); Phlebotomy audit – Endang Hoyaranda (Indonesia); Lean Vietnam –Jozi Habijanic (Roche Corporate); Quality Control/Sigma training - Amit Manjure(Siemens Corporate)A.

APFCB Travelling Lecturer for 2017 and 2018

Dr Elina Raja, President of the Malaysian Association of Clinical Biochemists(MACB) was appointed APFCB TL for 2017. Her first engagement will be atthe 3rd Annual Scientific Conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka on 15-17 March2018. The title of her presentation is Drugs of Abuse Testing – Past, Present
and Future.
B.

MACB-APFCB Chemical Pathology Course, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 7-8
September 2017
This was the second in the series of the Malaysian Association of Clinical
Biochemists (MACB) – APFCB course. There were about 90 participants at
the APFCB-MACB Chemical Pathology Course held in KL over two days in
September. There were more people who wished to attend but were unable
to be accommodated in the allocated room. There were approximately 60
attendees at the inaugural course. The program follows a curriculum basedon the AACB- MAACB qualification and aims to cover all the material overthree years. The course is aimed at a section head in a major teaching
hospital in terms of content and covers both clinical and technical aspects ofclinical chemistry. The program consists of a series of lectures and casestudies with significant notes given to the attendees.
There were 2 external speakers but the majority of the presenters were local
pathologists and scientists which is in keeping with the aim of making this an
MACB activity eventually. The course is linked to a Malaysian government
Scientist career pathway and certification project and will be the basis of a
postgraduate course which will run next year.
MACB-APFCB Chemical Pathology Course Program 201712.30 - 13.00
13.00 - 14.00
14.00 - 14.30
14.30 - 15.00
15.00 - 16.00

Session – Thursday
7/09/2017
Welcome and overview
Statistics (method evaluation,reference intervals, MU)
Sodium and water
Tea BreakCalcium, Magnesium
Potassium and acid base
Investigation of Adrenal
diseaseTumour markers
Lunch
Automation
Lipids and CVD risk
Case studies: Cases 1, 2, 3

16.00 - 16.15
16.15 - 17.00

Tea BreakManagement of PoCT

Chris Lam

Time
09.00 - 09.45

Session – Friday 8/09/17
Haemoglobin, Iron andSpeakerDr. Tony BadrickTime
08.45 - 09.00
09.00 - 09.30
09.30 - 10.00
10.00 - 10.15
10.15 - 11.00
11.00 - 11.45
11.45 - 12.30

Speaker
MACB President
Dr. Tony Badrick
Dr. Tze Ping Loh
Prof. Pavai Sthaneswar
Dr. Tze Ping Loh
Prof. Pavai Sthaneswar
Dr. Tengku Norita T. Yazid
Dr. Tony Badrick
Dr. Tze Ping Loh
Dr. Tony Badrick /Dr. Tze Ping

09.45 - 10.30
10.30 - 11.00
11.00 - 11.45
11.45 - 12.30
12.30 - 14.30
14.30 - 15.15
15.15 - 16.15
16.15 – 16.45
16.45 - 17.00

Porphyrins (TB)
Hematopoietic malignancies andcase discussion
Tea Break
Newborn Screening
Molecular methods in diagnosis
and monitoring
Lunch
Biochemical Alteration in
Diabetic Ketoacidosis
Case studies: Cases 4, 5, 6
Discussion
Tea Break and End of course

Dr. Mimi Azura

Chen Bee Chin
Yusnita Yakob

Dr. Siti Balkhis Budin
Dr. Tony BadrickC.

Pre-Analytical Working subgroup to develop a phlebotomy
process Auditor training program
The BD phlebotomy audit program has been successful at reducing preanalytical error in a number of APAC countries. The aim of this project is to
produce an APFCB training course for phlebotomy auditors that could be
used throughout the Region, develop a guideline for pre-analyticalprocesses, and organise speciality meetings. An MoU with BD who willassist in the development and delivery of this program was signed in
Singapore in late January 2018.

D.

Interpretative comments programme
The purpose of these cases and suggested responses is to provide someclinical cases for continuing education. There was wide range of responses
with between 15 and 45 participants. The Interpretative Comments program
will continue in 2018. Dr Loh Tze Ping, Singapore, will take over the
management of this program with an emphasis on basic result interpretation.

E.

Development of Material for self-directed learning for QA/QCThe C-ELM will continue to populate the website with suitable material forlaboratory staff to learn basic aspects of QA and QC.

F.

Roche pre-analytical workshops
The Roche Lean training program will continue for year 2 in Vietnam. There
have been 3 courses with over 40 local staff trained. The expectation is that
there will be further courses this year. The role of the APFCB is to monitor
progress and ensure that projects continue to be completed.

G.

Green Practices Survey
To continue to promote green laboratories, a survey of suppliers will be
undertaken to gauge green policies with production, distribution and use ofenvironmentally friendly material.

H.

Vietnam PoCT and Clinical Biochemistry Courses
The work of Ronda Greaves in Vietnam will continue with further workshops
in Hanoi and HCMC.

I.

APFCB Workshop held at the IFCC WorldLab Congress, Durban, South
AfricaThe APFCB was invited in 2016 to conduct a symposium/workshop at the
IFCC WorldLab in Durban, 22-25th October 2017.
The APFCB workshop, entitled Clinical Endocrinology, was held on 23rd
October 2017 from 1630 till 1730 h. It covered aspects of clinicalendocrinology, including vitamin D and osteoporosis, parathyroid disorders
and their investigation, and clinical cases on thyroid and adrenal disorders.
Scientific Programme:
Chair: Leslie Lai
Laboratory investigation in the diagnosis and management of parathyroid
disordersSamuel Vasikaran (Australia)
Endocrine cases and data interpretation
Leslie Lai (Malaysia)
Vitamin D to prevent osteoporosis: Critical Levels and mechanisms of action
Howard Morris (Australia)
Although the workshop was the last session of the day and there were fourparallel sessions, with 700 registered participants at the congress, the
APFCB workshop attracted around 100 participants.
The feedback received from participants was that the APFCB workshop was
useful and interesting. The clinical cases were interactive and engaged theparticipation of the audience. To quote two participants who attended theworkshop, the session was a “great event”.
The APFCB is honoured to have participated in the 23rd IFCC WorldLab
Congress in Durban, South Africa.

J.

APFCB Symposium at WASPaLM, Kyoto, Japan, 20th October 2017
The APFCB conducted an invited Symposium entitled Informatics andLaboratory Results at the WASPaLM Kyoto meeting. There were three
speakers:
Sunil Sethi who spoke on Laboratory middleware, process control and result
auto-verification;
Tony Badrick (co-chair) with the topic Using External Quality Assurance
Information and Communications Technology to drive improved Reporting;and,Helen Martin who addressed Critical Risk Result Reporting.
The audience was small but this was true for many of the symposia during
the meeting. The audience were enthusiastic. The material presented linked
together well and was pertinent and informative. The speakers gave goodpresentations and the session flowed well and was on time. The venue wasvery good though some distance from Kyoto where the hotel was located.
The activity underscored the importance of the APFCB-WASPaLM
relationship.

K.

7

APFCB-AACC Quality Workshops
There is a new collaborative project between APFCB and the AACC.
Planning has begun for the Global Laboratory Quality Workshop series,“Adding Value to Patient Care Using Quality Control” in the Asia-Pacificregion from August 2018. Workshops in Nepal, Sri Lanka and Philippines arebeing planned, with a similar pre-congress workshop at APFCB Congress inJaipur in November 2019.

Scientific Committee (C-Sc)
Chair: Sam Vasikaran (Australia)
Committee:
Kiyoshi Ichihara, Chair of Reference Intervals WG,
Graham Jones, Chair of APFCB / WASPaLM Task Force on CKD,
Leslie Lai, Vice Chair and WASPaLM Rep-APFCB / WASPaLM TF CKD,
Ronda Greaves, Chair of Mass Spectrometry Harmonisation WG
Tester Ashavaid (TD) Chair of Pharmacogenetics WG
A.

Kiyoshi Ichihara has analysed reference interval data from participating
countries in the APFCB region (India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Malaysiaetc.). Measurements were harmonised by the distribution of a panel of sera.
The IFCC Committee on Reference Intervals and Decision Limits (C-RIDL)
will publish a guidance document for the direct and indirect methods forderiving reference intervals. Clinical decision limits will also be addressed.
Available
tools:DGKL-Germany[http://www.dgkl.de/PA106975_EN_VAR100?sid=u425284C4Io121].

B.

APFCB-WASPaLM TF-CKD. A meeting of the IFCC-WASPaLM Task Forceon CKD was held in Athens during EuroMedLab. Several national
representatives from the AP region attended. The National Societies areencouraged to liaise with the local clinical Nephrology professional societies.
K-DIGO 2013 blueprint should be used for implementation of action plans.
http://kdigo.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/KDIGO_2012_CKD_GL.pdf
National representation encouraged on both the APFCB-WASPaLM TF-CKD
and the IFCC-WASPaLM TF-CKD by applying for corresponding
membership.
APFCB will support regional countries which can apply to the IFCC VLP
program to invite GJ to visit and speak at local forums/workshops.
There is currently an epidemic of CKD in Sri Lanka. GJ has been invited by
the College of Chemical Pathologists of Sri Lanka to speak, hold workshops
and meet with nephrologists, at their annual meeting in March 2018.

C.

Mass Spectrometry Harmonization Working GroupA survey for 17OHP for serum and plasma was carried out via several
national, regional societies/ bodies. Next steps include – technical survey/
recommendations – on minimum volumes, dynamic range of assays,consideration of QC levels, internal standards, EQA and accreditation. Workis in conjunction with the IFCC and AACB. Two abstracts presented (one at
ESPE, one at ICPLM 2017).
Publication: Greaves RF, Ho CS, Loh TP, Chai JH, Jolly L, Graham P,
Hartmann MF, de Rijke YB, Wudy SA; Working Group 3 “Harmonisation ofLaboratory Assessment” European Cooperation in Science and Technology(COST) Action BM1303 “DSDnet” . Current state and recommendations forharmonization of serum/plasma 17-hydroxyprogesterone mass spectrometry
methods. Clin Chem Lab Med 1998 Feb 3. Epub ahead of print
Plans are afoot for initiating and international external quality assessment
program for LC-MSMS based analysis of steroid panels starting with 17-OHP,
to be done in collaboration with European and Australian external QA
programs.
Ronda Greaves is a member of the new IFCC-ETD and may be an avenue
for collaboration with wider laboratory medicine community.

D.

Focus on Diabetes Mellitus
Decision made at the APFCB EB meeting in January 2018 to focus the effortsof C-Sc improving the quality of laboratory services in the region for the tests
related to diabetes mellitus in order to improve diagnosis, monitoring andmanagement of the disease – with activities involving a survey on HbA1C
diagnostic cut offs, PoC versus mainframe testing, and possible APFCB
region-wide accuracy-based A1C PT programme.

8Communications Committee (C-Comm)
Chair: Praveen Sharma (India)
The Chair of the Communications Committee is also the Chief Editor of the APFCB
e-News. The official communication newsletter for APFCB, APFCB e-news is being
published online since 2010. The publication team includes:
Leslie Lai
General and Case Studies Editor
Tester Ashavaid
General and Case Studies Editor
Aysha Habib
General and Case Studies Editor
Dr Purvi Purohit
Web Editor
Dr Purvi Purohit
Assistant Editor
A.

APFCB e-News
The APFCB e-news is available free online for all and this has ensured wide
reach of the APFCB e-News to all members at no additional cost. It covers:
APFCB activities
Activities of member societies
Features (including special mention of any outstanding work)
Scientific articles by members
Scientific articles by corporate members
The APFCB e-News was published annually from 2013 to 2015. In 2015 it
was decided that the APFCB e-News shall be published twice a year as Issue-1 and 2 in an effort to cover more regional activities. Since 2016 there isregular publication of the 2 issues of APFCB News. For the current year
APFCB News 2017 (Issue-1) is already online covering the activities ofmember societies in the first half of this year. The second issue is underpreparation and covers major activities of the member societies of the second
half of the year 2017.

B.

APFCB Website
The Chair of the Communications Committee was charged with the
responsibility of launching the APFCB website and its coordination,
maintenance and improvement (www.apfcb.org). The site was successfullylaunched on 1 Nov 2011. Dr MVR Reddy (India) had been assigned the
responsibility of being the web editor. In the year 2016 Dr Purvi Purohit
succeeded Dr MVR Reddy as the web editor.

The website is regularly updated with comprehensive information on theorganisation and activities of APFCB and its member societies and latest
announcements of conferences and workshops of member societies. Access
is made available through the website to the ongoing Scientific, Educationand Laboratory Management Committee programs of APFCB as well as theactivities of the Communications and Congress Committee.
With the renewal of the website maintenance contract, there have been

progressive updates in the website. There is automatic data archival of all thewebsite pages. Further, all the issues of the APFCB News are now available
in two formats, PDF and E book format.
APFCB also has a YouTube channel with informative videos available. Thiswas made in collaboration with Roche and is now successfully launched in
December 2017. The channel can be searched on YouTube Asia-PacificFederation for Clinical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine.
There is also a photo gallery of relevant events. The website is also a sourceof information on the APFCB Congress and regional meetings as well as the
APFCB Travelling Lecturer program as well as future events. The APFCB eNews and annual reports are conveniently published online on this platform,
making them readily available to all members. It also gives access to the
APFCB webinars.
C.

9

Public Relations
A power point presentation on the APFCB, its members and its activities is
updated regularly by the corporate representative at the Executive Board, Dr
Alexander Wong, from Siemens. This PowerPoint presentation is ready for
use at member society conferences and at regional and international
meetings to promote the APFCB.

Congress and Conferences Committee (C-CC)
Chair: Elizabeth Frank (India)
A.

Auspices
One of the functions of the APFCB C-CC is the award of auspices of the
APFCB for scientific meetings. The provision of auspices is mutually
beneficial: the APFCB lends its prestige to a meeting which should help it
attract greater participation and in return the APFCB benefits from greater
name recognition among the participating laboratory scientists.
In 2017, APFCB auspices was provided for the following meetings:
1) College of Chemical Pathologists, Sri Lanka, Annual Academic
Session, 24-25 February 2017.
2) The Iranian Association of Clinical Laboratory Doctors (IACLD),
1Oth International & 15th National Congress on Quality
Improvement in Clinical Laboratories, 20-23 April 2017, Tehran,Iran.
3) The 9th Scientific meeting and Chemical Pathology Course, July
2017, Vietnam.
4) 2nd APFCB-SACB-Siemens Specialty Meeting on Laboratory
Excellence, 29 September 2017, Singapore
5) Korean Society of Laboratory Medicine, 58TH Annual Meeting,
LMCE 2017, 18-20 October, Seoul, South Korea
6) Association of Medical Biochemists of India, 25TH Anniversary

Silver Jubilee AMBICON, 15-19 November, Mysuru, India
7) 44th National Conference of Association of Clinical Biochemists ofIndia (ACBICON 2017), 3-6 December 2017, Lucknow, India
8) Roche Efficiency Days (RED), 30 Nov-1 Dec, Taipei, Taiwan

10

Corporate Member’s Report by Dr Alexander Wong (Siemens Healthineers)
A.

Corporate Membership Update
Year
2014
2015
2016
2017

New Corporate Members
Added
Nil
Wondfo Biotech SNIBE
Diagnostics
Nil
Nil

Corporate Members Rescinded
Nil
Nil
PM Separations
Nil

B.

Promoting APFCB Membership
Corporate Representative will continue to promote the benefits of APFCB
Corporate Membership to other companies.

C.

Receivables Reconciliation from Corporate Members
Efforts have been made to reduce the amount receivables from Corporate
Members. Corporate members such as BD, Bio-Rad have paid theiroverdues, and Randox has recently responded favourably to settle theiroutstanding payments. Corporate Representative to follow-up with treasurer
on the amounts receivables overdue that is payable to APFCB.

D.

Corporate Member Activities
Appointment of Corporate Representatives to APFCB Committees
The following Corporate Representatives have been nominated to therespective Committees –C-ELM – Ms Jozica Habijanic (Roche)
C-ELM – Mr Amit Manjure (Siemens)
C-SC – Mr Tan Swee Jin (Sysmex)

E.

APFCB-Corporate Memorandums & Agreements
More Corporate Members are amenable to sign non-binding agreements with
APFCB in order to better define the scope and activities for which each
Corporate Member would like to collaborate with APFCB over a medium
term. This is a very encouraging trend, and can be an effective mechanism topromote more to Corporate Members in order to facilitate closer
collaboration.
APFCB-Abbott Event Partnership Agreement
APFCB-Roche Collaboration Agreements
APFCB-BD MOU on Pre-analytical
APFCB-Siemens MOU on QC/Sigma training program (in discussions)F.

APFCB Auspices for Corporate Events
Auspices were granted to 2 meetings held in the second-half of 2017. Bothmeetings were well-attended and post-event reports have been submitted to
the APFCB for records.
2nd APFCB-SACB-Siemens Specialty Meeting, held in Singapore
Roche Efficiency Days (RED) 2017, held in Taipei.

G.

Launch of APFCB YouTube Channel
Roche Diagnostics have offered support and assistance to launch an official
APFCB YouTube Channel in order to manage our scientific online contents.
The following members are tasked to work on the project, with a progress
update expected on 26 Jan 2018 –APFCB – Praveen Sharma, Alex Wong
Roche – Jozica Habijanic, Shruti BoseH.

Update on APACMed Code of Ethics
Corporate Representative highlighted the recent changes made to APACMed
code, with effect from 1 Jan 2018. These changes will mainly affectCorporate
Members
who
are
under
APACMed(http://www.apacmed.org/join/current-members/)

APACMed Corporate Members will NOT be allowed to –Invite HCPs directly as speakers or as participants for all future APFCBCongresses and Events, but will need to go through the Congress organizers
for nominations, for which the Congress organizers will cover all travel
arrangements and expenses.
These costs may be recovered through an educational grant that can be paidon an agreed lump sum or through reimbursement of receipts.
Corporate Members are still allowed to –Propose speakers for 3rd party educational event if approached by event
organizers but cannot influence their selection/decision, nor make any direct
travel and logistical arrangements.
Invite Corporate employees to speak at 3rd party educational event where
speaker’s slot is offered as part of the sponsoring package.
Purchase satellite symposia* (e.g. lunch symposia) packages and to
determine the content of these satellite symposia including selection of
speaker and payment of speaker’s honorarium, travel, accommodation.
Free tickets obtained from event organizers as part of the educational grant
can be offered to HCOs (but not to HCPs).
Organize their own Corporate Workshops/symposia independent of any otherevent organizers.
I.

Corporate Members Briefing on APFCB Congress 2019, Jaipur
A Corporate Members Briefing session was organized on 26 Jan 2018 in
Singapore, to Congress Organizing Committee Chair Prof Praveen Sharma
gave an update on the preparations for the APFCB Congress 2019 to
Corporate Members. Corporate Members were impressed by the venue,
facilities, and flight connectivity options.

J.

2nd APFCB-SACB-Siemens Specialty Meeting on Laboratory Excellence
Date: 29 September 2017
Venue: Carlton Hotel, Singapore

APFCB, SACB, and Siemens continued their joint collaboration to organize
the second series of Specialty Meetings in Singapore, with the topic on“Laboratory Excellence”. The event saw a total of 202 participants fromrestructured hospitals, commercial laboratories, polyclinics, and clinical trialorganizations across Singapore, as well as participants from neighbouring
countries Malaysia and Indonesia. Consistent with the first series, theorganizers capitalized on speakers from various organizations – Health
Sciences Authority Singapore, as well as College of American Pathologists(CAP faculty, to share their valuable knowledge and experience to theaudience.
One interesting aspect of the event was also the use of a real-time Q&A
mobile app for better interactivity with the audience. Over 40 questions wereposed by the participants across the 2 Q&A panels, and the faculty answeredquestions that had garnered the most up-votes. Participants thoroughly
enjoyed the use of the digital media platform (Pigeon Hole Live) to liven up
the Q&A sessions, as did the speakers themselves.

11

Special Event
Association of Medical Biochemists of India, 25TH Anniversary Silver Jubilee
AMBICON, 15-19 November, Mysuru, India
Report of attendance by Endang Hoyaranda, Vice-President, APFCBThe AMBI annual conference 2017, which commemorates the Silver Jubilee of
AMBI was chosen to be held in Mysore, Karnataka State, South India. AMBI wasestablished in 1992, and was held in the beautiful facilities of the Lalitha Mahal
Palace Hotel, which was built in 1921 during the Kingdom of Mysore.
The conference was attended by more than 200 participants, mainly Biomedical
doctors from all over the country. Unfolding new facets of Medical Biochemistry:
The bridging of Academia and Clinics, was chosen as the theme of the conference
this year. This theme was well represented by the lectures addressed during theconference.

A memento from APFCB congratulating AMBI for their Silver Jubilee, waspresented to the President of AMBI, and an address from APFCB was delivered,
as follows:
On behalf of the Asia-Pacific Federation for Clinical Biochemistry and Laboratory
Medicine, I congratulate the Association of Medical Biochemists of India on thishistorical 25th anniversary.
The need for professional and scientific societies to be heard in public is increasingthese days. This is especially important in the field of medicine, in this era of the P4
principles, where health is regarded not only as mitigating disease, but also
preventing and predicting disease, personalizing of actions and participation of all
stakeholders. It is the era of disruption, where changes are happening at a very
high pace, where it may destroy when men are not aware of the consequences
brought by changes. Professional and scientific societies are at a very strategic
position to make the necessary changes, even to be in the disruptive process forthe enhancement of healthcare.
It is therefore also very strategic and timely to have the theme for this year
“Unfolding new facets of Medical Biochemistry: The bridging of Academia andClinics” .
This anniversary will mark a very important milestone reached, and also creates anoptimism to go for another silver jubilee to reach your golden jubilee. All members,
especially you who have served to make AMBI become the best what it may
possibly reach, will then look back and say that all of you must have done
something good in your life, for your community, for the patients, for your country,
and for mankind.
Congratulations from all of us at the APFCB board and committees, may you havea successful conference and a bright path ahead.
As invited speaker, I delivered a lecture in a symposium dedicated to Risk
management in laboratory medicine, the topic of my lecture being Medical
Laboratory Risk Management in Action. This topic covered risk management not
only from the quality control/assessment point of view but also from other various
aspects in the endeavor to obtain the highest patient safety as well as sustainabilityof the laboratory viewed from various other aspects. The first speaker of thesymposium was Dr. Elizabeth Frank who presented the broad spectrum of risk
management in laboratory medicine, the topic being: Risk Management & its Utility
in Clinical Laboratory.
AMBI President, Shanti Naidu, and the whole board as well as other attendees,
showed wonderful hospitality during the conference.

12

The 15th APFCB Congress 2019
The 15th APFCB Congress 2019 is being hosted at Jaipur (India) in the winters ofNovember 2019 under the dynamic leadership of Prof Praveen Sharma. The eventis already having an active website hoisted and a mobile app since 2016. The
congress committees have been finalised and registration shall be open shortly forthe mega event. The corporate meeting for sponsorship is scheduled on 26th
January 2018 followed by Executive board meeting at Singapore. The
announcement of the congress is hoisted on the APFCB Website and is linked toits brochure, helping disseminate important information about this mega event.

Report compiled by Sunil Sethi (President), with inputs from Leslie Lai (Immediate
Past-President), Endang Hoyaranda (Vice President), Helen Martin (Secretary),
Alexander Wong (Corporate Representative), Tony Badrick (Chair C-ELM), Sam
Vasikaran (Chair C-Sci), Praveen Sharma (Chair C-Comm), Elizabeth Frank (Chair
C-CC),
24 February 2018