Israeli doctor to serve as president of World Medical Association
Group represents 9 million physicians, focuses mostly on ethics; Dr. Yoram Blachar says will try to bring Arab, African states into WMA.
By Yuval AzoulayIsrael Medical Association Chairman Dr. Yoram Blachar was selected Saturday as president of the World Medical Association.
Blachar recently completed two consecutive terms as chairman of the WMA council. Also contending for the presidency were one candidate from New Zealand and one from India.
The WMA is the umbrella organization of 84 national medical associations around the world and represents about nine million physicians worldwide. The WMA focuses primarily on issues of ethics.
Upon learning that he was chosen to head the organization, Blachar said he would endeavor to bring Arab and African states that were not yet members of the WMA into the body.
"I am proud to be part of the medical profession, a field that bridges borders," Blachar said.
The Secretary General of the Israel Medical Association, attorney Leah Wapner, said that Blachar's election demonstrates that the WMA has disconnected its considerations from politics.
Blachar, 67, has been IMA chair since 1995. He is an emergency care and pediatric physician, with a specialty in kidney diseases in children.
"The scope of interest of the WMA is by its nature in the area of ethics, but in recent years it has increasingly shown interest in various fields of medicine, in issues relating to inequalities in medical care and in specific diseases including AIDS and malaria," Blachar said.
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There is an open letter from physicians across the world going out regarding the fine doctor. As a medical student I find this appointment to be shocking to say the least. "Dr Blachar went as far as to justify the use in Israel of moderate physical pressure (condemned as torture by the UN Committee Against Torture) in the fourth paragraph of a letter published in the international medical journal The Lancet in 1997 (7)."
She didn't get to finish her posting and it got sent before she could pour out her frustration, bitterness and hatred. Or perhaps you were talking about the law of torts, cristina?
Of course there are, but they're busy planning the next underground and bus explosions in the UK.
All you boycotters, please now feel free to boycott your doctors and medical services if they are allied to the WMA, and that will be the whole western world for a start! We manage to separate politics, professionalism and acadaemia, it is you who don't, so come on, let's not be hypocrites, time to show us the courage of your convictions!
Israel treats hundreds of thousands of Arabs every year.
A very positive sign that the boycott era is ending. The world needs to be shown how well Israeli Jews and Arabs work together in the field of medicine.
allow such a thing to happen? Could it be because they don't have enough doctors to represent them in the WMA?
allow such a thing to happen? Could it be because they don't have enough doctors to represent them in the WMA?