At the last House of Delegates meeting in Seoul, South Korea we were left with a vacancy on the ASPOA Executive, that of the 5 th member and after conducting an on line vote we elected Mr Bonggyu Jeon from Seoul to that position. Although it sometimes feels that not much has been accomplished in the intervening time actually quite a lot has been happening behind the scene!

    Organisation for World Ostomy Day 6 th of October 2018 is well underway with several calls to Coloplast Denmark who are the principle sponsors and an email tree is being set up around the world through which we can pass information both ways. Details of the various contests will be notified via this email system in due course.

    In early April 2018 Dr Harikesh Buch, Ronaldo Lora and myself will be attending the World Council of Entrostomal Therapists bi-annual Congress in Kuala Lumpur on behalf of the ASPOA and we have arranged for space to have a stand free of charge in order to be able to talk to as many people attending as possible. Both Ronaldo and I are speaking at the Congress and so our registrations are free. A lot of work has been done to obtain sponsorship to cover our costs and most of this has come from New Zealand organisations which is tremendous.

    So far we have managed to send postal shipments of surplus Ostomy product from New Zealand to both Mongolia and Nepal and we are in the process of sorting out shippers to get product to Iran, India and Myanmar in the near future.

    The Executive have continued the practise of holding Skype meetings in order to keep costs down and this is a positive move.

    Some country Associations have had changes of their own Executive and this is always a positive thing as it brings in new blood and ideas to the Association but when your Association does this please advise Ronaldo Lora of the new people and their contact details so that we can keep our own records up to date.

    In 2017 Mr Barry Maughan was recognised in New Zealand by being awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) one of New Zealand’s highest honours, this was due to the tremendous amount of work that Barry has done over the years in his support of Ostomates world-wide.

    In April Dr Harikesh Buch will be providing STN training in Vietnam which will also involve nurses from neighbouring countries and later in the year will be working with Lions for Stoma Care in providing training in South America.

    At the height of the aftermath of Hurricane Maria that left many of our friends from Puerto Rica reeling from the devastation, the Korean Ostomy Association (KOA) has raised money and donated about USD $1,000.00 for our Puerto Rican Ostomates. The initiative was made possible through the efforts of Mr. Bonggyu Jeon. The money raised was donated to the Ostomy Association of Puerto Rico (AOPR-Asociacion Ostomizados de Puerto Rico)headed by its president Martha Velez De Nieves.

    Ronaldo has worked very hard on developing a new web site which is really great and I thank Ronaldo for the effort that he has put in on this project.

    Rather more sadly I have to mention the passing of Mr. Michiaki Takaishi from Japan, Michi was a past president of the Japan Ostomy Association, the Asian ostomy Association and lastly the Asia and South Pacific Ostomy Association and I counted Michi as a personal friend as well as being a very able colleague who worked tirelessly for his fellow Ostomates.


Richard B. McNair
President
Asia & South Pacific Ostomy Association