Indian J. Pedial., 28 : 110, 1961
PEDIATRICS IN ASIAN COUNTRIES*
CEYLON The CwIon Pediatric Association was inaugurated in 1953. There are 50 members. Membership is open not only to pediatricians but also to general practitioners and other specialists. As a general rule a monthly meeting is held when either clinical cases are shown or a member or a distinguished visitor reads a paper. The Association has been affiliated to The hTternational Pediatric Association since 1955 and has been represented officially at the two most recent International Pediatric Congresses at Copenhagen and Montreal. It has sent representatives and delegates to the First Asian Regional Congress at Singapore in May, 1958. INDONESIA Pediatrics in Indonesia before the Second World War was of minor importance. There were at that time only tWO medical schools in the whole of Indonesia, one in Djakarta and one in Surabaja.. Both had an average annual output of 40 to 60 qualified doctors. However, since 1950, complete re-organisation of medical education has taken place. Three medical schools have been re-established and four more have been founded. They are situated so as to serve all the islands. Pediatrics is at present recognised in Indonesia as one of the five most important clinical subjects in the medical curriculum, the others being Internal Medicine, Surgery, Obstetrics/Gynaecology and Neurology/Psychiatry. The Pediatric Department in the Medical School of the University of Djakarta, is, at present, the foremost such centre in Indonesia. It moved into its new building in 1955. There are several wards with a total capacity of 300 beds, a well equipped laboratory, a milk-kitchen and and an out-patient department which is heavily attended. There is at present a staff of 30 physicians, ranging from full-time instructors to professors. Its activities are not only in the fields of undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and research ; it also provides qualified teachers in pediatrics for the other medical schools in Indonesia. Pediatric departments are to be found at most of the other medical schools and central hospitals in big cities. The steadily growing number of qualified pediatricians founded the Indonesian Pediatric Society in 1956. Now there are about 60 qualified pediatricians as members. Although the Indonesian Pediatric' Society is still in its infancy, it has contributed much to the Maternity and Child Health Services in Indonesia. It has participated too in many international, regional, and national congresses in the field of pediatrics, tuberculosis, nutrition and haematology. JAPAN
The Japanese Pediatric Association was recogniscd by law in 1896. Its name, which was 'Shionika Kenkyukai' in Japanese, was changed to 'Nippon * Reproduced from the Souvenir of the First All-Asian Congress of Pediatrics.
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Shonika Gakukai' in 1901. In the West, it is known as 'Societas Pediatrica Japonica.' The periodical of the Association, "Jika Zassi', (or 'Acta Pediatrica Japonica') was first published in 1895. The Japanese name was later changed to 'Nippon Shonika Gakukai Zassi'. The Pediatrica Japonica in English was published in 1958. It is now being published every month and so far there have been 64 numbers. The sixty-third Annual General Meeting of the Association was held at Osaka from 14-16 May, 1960. The Association now has 3,900 members. THE PHILIPPINES Pediatrics started relatively late in the Philippines, its pioneers being JOSE M. ALBERTand MANUEL S. GUERRERO. During the past years, after the second world war, three new medical schools were started in Manila : the Manila Central, the Far Eastern and the University of the East. All have departments of pediatrics, except the last which is just constructing its hospital. In Manila, alone, there are many hospitals for children and almost all provincial hospitals have children's pavilions. In 1907, the Gota de Leche was started in order to provide unadulterated milk for infants of the poor strata of population in Manila. It is a part of thc civic organization dedicated to protection of children, La Protection de la
Infaneia. On May 13, 1947, the Philippine Pediatric' Society was founded by 27 doctors dedicated to the practice and teaching of pediatrics. In 1952, the Philippine Journal of Pediatrics was started as the organ of the Philippine Pediatric Society. Both the Society and the Journal are devoted to pediatric research in the Philippines. Now there are specialists in pediatrics in all provinces of the Philippines and their number is fast increasing. The Philippine Society of Pediatrics has a speciality board which screens applicants for membership according to their training and experience. SINGAPORE The Singapore Pediatric Society was founded on 1st August 1952, to advance the knowledge and practice of clinical pediatrics and to promote child health in this country. It was felt that such a Society would also provide an opportunity for all those specially interested in pediatrics to meet and discuss common problems. The response from other medical practitioners in Singapore and in the Federation of Malaya was encouraging. The membership of the Society grew rapidly and by the end of 1952 there were 44 members. It became a member of the International Pediatric Association in 1957. At the end of 1958 there were 61 members. The first clinical meeting was held in September 1952 and since that date regular monthly meetings have been held on the first Friday of every month. These have ranged over the whole field of clinical pediatrics and child health," of preventive pediatrics, of the problems of handicapped children and of the social aspects of disease in children in this country: Each year a week-end conference has also been held. The most ambitious project of the society was to organise the First Asian Regional Pediatric Congress held from May 26th--30th, t958. This was
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INDIAN'JOURNALOF PEDIATRICS
attended by 192 delegates, 71 of whom came from outside Malaya. The proceedings of this Congress have been published separately. The proceedings of the Singapore Pediatric Society have been produced in duplicated form since 1952. These record the activities of the Society from August 1952 to December 1958. They have now been replaced by the Journal of the Singapore Pediatric Society, the scope of which has been enlarged to include progress in pediatrics and child health in Singapore and Malaya and the neighbouring countries. TURKEY The National Society of ChiM Health and Pediatrics of Turkey was reorganised and established in its present form in the year 1957. It has four regional branches in Turkey, the Central, the Western, the Eastern and the Istanbul ones, each being located in the appropriate geographical region of Turkey. The national office is in Ankara, the capital of Turkey. The membership is made up of 262 specialists in pediatrics and, addition, there are several affiliates who restrict their practice to pediatric surgery. The Society is a member of the International Pediatric" Association and the Middle East-Mediterranean Pediatr& Society. Under the auspices of the latter, the Second RegionalPe~diatric Conference will be held in Ankara during the last week of September, in 1961. Pediatrics is one of the four major clinical departments in Turkish medical schools, the other three being medicine, surgery, and obstetrics and gynaecology. There are National Boards for specialising in pediatrics and those with a minimum training of four years in approved teaching hospitals are entitled to take the Board examinations and thus be certified as specialist pediatricians. The major teaching centre in undergraduate and postgraduate pediatrics in Turkey is the Research Institute of Child Health, Ankara, Turkey. In this centre the sub-specialities of pediatric medicine and surgery, including endocrinology, allergy, neurology, haematology, cardiology, cardiovascular surgery, neurosurgery, etc. are well-developed. Two national pediatric journals are published jointly by the Research Institute of Child Health and the National Society of Child Health and Pediatrics of Turkey, on a quarterly basis. INDIA The lndian Pediatric Society--the first professional society of pediatricians in India was founded in 1948 in Calcutta (Registered under the Societies Registration Act 21 of 1860). "The objects of the Society are promotion and advancement of pediatrics and cognate subjects and the promotion of scientific collaboration among its members." "Any person possessing a medical qualification registrable in India will be eligible for membership provided he is trained in Western Medical Sciences as defined in the Indian Medical Degrees Act Clause II (Act VI of 1916) and interested in pediatrics in any of its aspects." The lndian Pediatric' Society is a founder-member of the International Pediatric Association formed in 1950 in Zurich, Switzerland. It has so far organised 11 All-India Pediatric Conferences in different cities in India. At the 7th All-India Pediatric Conference held in Indore in February, 1956, a proposal to convene an Asian Pediatric Congress was approved. The Indian Pediatric Society contacted pediatric societies of Asian Countries and received a very favourable response. The Indian Pediatric Society formed a provisional organizing committee to take steps for organizing the Congress. Later
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the Association of Pediatricians of India was invited to co-sponsor the Congress jointly with the lndian Pediatric Society. The Indian Journal of Pediatrics, founded in 1933, is the official organ of the Society. The Association of Pediatricians of India was formed in 1952. Only those devoted wholly to the practice of pediatrics are admitted as full members, the rest being associate members. To-day there are 117 ordinary members and 98 associate ones. Clinical meetings are held every Friday at all the teaching hospitals in Bombay in rotation. In addition, refresher courses for general practitioners in pediatrics are arranged usually twice a year, for a fortnight at a time. Research scholarships are awarded every year. The annual Conference is in January, and it takes place in a different town in India each year. It is held together with the annual conference of the Association of Physicians of India, the Cardiological Society of India and
Neurological Society of lndia. The Association of Pediatricians publishes every month a journal of pediatrics. By the end of 1960, nine volumes of the Journal, the Indian Journal of Child Health, will have been completed.
