REPORT OF THE 24^TH ANNUAL CONGRESS OF THE MALAYSIAN PAEDIATRIC ASSOCIATION.

The Malaysian Paediatric Association held its 24^th Annual Congress on 6^th – 8^th September 2002 at The Eastern and Oriental Hotel, Penang, Malaysia. The theme of this year’s Scientific Meeting was “Paediatric Chest”. More than 400 participants attended the congress, mostly doctors and nurses from all over Malaysia. More than 30 topic papers, 5 research papers for the young investigator’s award, 16 free papers and 24 posters were presented during the congress.

The first plenary lecture was given by Dr. Azizi Omar who spoke on the challenges of paediatric pulmonology in Malaysia in the 21^st century, and reviewed the local achievements in this field. The Bill Marshall Lecture was given by Professor Michael Dillon from the Institute of Child Health, Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital in London. He gave an excellent review on the approach to vasculitis in children. Two symposia on respiratory diseases followed the colourful opening ceremony. The evening program began with the young investigator award presentation. The award was won by Dr. Hasri for his work on “Serum cardiac troponin-T and creatine kinase myocardial band as indicators of myocardial injury in asphyxiated newborn infants”.

On the second day of the Congress, the plenary lecture was given by Dr Lee Bee Wah, who spoke on “Allergic disorders in Infancy”. The day’s symposia topics covered allergies and immunology of respiratory diseases. An interesting debate on intramuscular polio vaccine versus oral polio vaccine was held between Dr. Musa Mohd. Nordin and Dr. Norrashiddah Abdul Wahab. A free paper session and the Annual General Meeting of the Paediatric Association brought the day to a close.

The plenary lecture on the third and last day of the Congress was given by Professor Paul Potter who spoke on “Current concepts in the development of allergy”. The last plenary lecture was given by Dr. Mazeni Alwi who reviewed the history of cardiology in Malaysia, its present achievement and future challenges. Topics of the day’s symposia included respiratory intensive care, immunotherapy, cardiology and nursing.