The 10th National Telemedicine Educational Symposium was held on December 5, 2006 at Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital (the Associated Southern China Hospital of Shantou University Medical College) with great success. Organized by Li Ka-shing Foundation and China Education Television and co-organized the Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital, Shantou University Medical College, the Affiliated St. Michael’s Hospital of University of Toronto and University of Toronto of Canada, the symposium video-linked to three venues at Shaanxi Provincial People’s Hospital, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University and Shantou University through the Internet. Mr. Li Ka-shing and chairman of Chinese Medical Association, Academician Zhong Nanshan sent congratulatory letters to the Symposium.
Ms. Solina Chau, Director of Li Ka-shing Foundation, attended the meeting and read Mr. Li ka-shing’s congratulatory letter to the audience. Professor Lin Shuguang, President of Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital; Professor Li Yuguang, Dean of Shantou University Medical College; Ms. Chen Li, Vice President of China Education Television; Academician Wei Yu, Vice President of China Association for Science and Technology and former Vice Minister of Education, delivered speeches at the Symposium. Other guests attending the Symposium included Dr. Katherine Lo, Project Manager of Li Ka-shing Foundation; leaders from Departments of Education and Health of Guangdong Province; Professor Chen Dechang, the founder of the Chinese Critical Care Medicine; Professor Liu Dawei, chairman of the Critical Care Medicine Division of the Chinese Medical Association; Professor Xi Xiuming, chairman of the Chinese Society of Critical Care Medicine; around 80 experts in Critical Care Medicine from all over the country.
Professor Arthur Slutsky, Vice President (Research) of St. Michael’s Hospital, and Professor Fabrice Brunet, Chief of the Critical Care Department of the same hospital delivered lectures in Critical Care Medicine at the Symposium. The lecture that Professor Slutsky delivered was “Ventilator-induced lung injury: From Barotrauma to Biotrauma” while Professor Brunet’s topic was “Perspectives in Critical Care: A patient-centered approach”. Professor Liu, Professor Xi and two experts also responded to questions raised by on-site audience, as well as those from satellite venues.
The Symposium was broadcast live on the Internet; audience could watch it online by clicking those links on the web. The symposium had proved to be a great success, as the hit rate had reached 1.8 million by 17:40 that day. China Education Television recorded the symposium and had shown it on Channel 1 on December 24.
The “International Visiting Doctors Program” of the Li Ka-shing Foundation has generously sponsored nine previous national telemedicine symposia since November 1999. For each symposium, different prestigious international universities were invited to join Shantou University Medical College in this national event. Participating universities and institutes included Stanford University, Yale University, Johns Hopkins University, Lund University of Sweden, the University of Toronto, the University of Osaka, two French institutes, the Institute of Myologie and the Institute Cochin, the Medical University of Vienna, Austria and University of Hong Kong. For each symposium, renowned international experts were invited to speak on selected areas of medicine. Invited speakers delivered lectures with audience participating in the question and answer session. The symposia have helped to advance international academic collaboration and to enhance medical education level of China.