Asian School of Urology
2007 - 2008 

Dr K T Foo (Singapore)
Director, Asian School of Urology

Asian School of Urology (ASU) is the education arm of Urological Association of Asia (UAA) and its motto is to ‘Better Urology for All in Asia’. The following activities were carried out over the year 2007-2008.

A: ASU Workshops

November 16^th - 18^th 2007: ‘Ultrasound in BPE /TUERP and PCNL for Stones’: Workshop in conjunction with the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Chinese Urological Association, Xiamen, China. The faculty members for this workshop were Dr Mahesh Desai (India), Dr Liu Chun Xiao (China) and Dr KT Foo (Singapore).

March 5^th – 8^th 2008: Nepal Association of Urological Surgeons meeting on ‘Ultrasonology and Endourology’, Kathmandu, Nepal. The faculty members for this workshop were Dr Janak Desai (India), Dr Tomomi Kamba (Japan), Dr MK Li (Singapore) and Dr K T Foo (Singapore).

April 12^th to 13^th 2008: Endourology Workshop with local branch of Chinese Urological Association, Quangzhou, China. The faculty members for this workshop were Dr Pradeep Rao (India), Dr Liu Chunxiao (China), Dr Wu Kaijun (China), Dr Li Sun (China), Dr Sidney Yip (Hong Kong) and Dr KT Foo (Singapore).

August 22^{nd –} 28th 2008: Advanced Course in Urology and Clinical Observer’s attachment at Department of Urology, Singapore General Hospital. The faculty members for this workshop were Dr Gnash Gopalakrishnan (India), Dr Manish Patil (Australia) and local faculty from Singapore.

This was organized in collaboration with Singapore Urological Association and 17 delegates were sponsored by ASU from various member associations around the region to attend. Most of them found the course and clinical attachment useful. 6 of the participants took part in the Viva (Oral examination) after the course and passed. They were given certificates at the end of the clinical attachment. Hopefully this could lead eventually to the establishment of an Asian Board of Urology to raise and standardize the practice of Urology in the region.

At the Advanced Course in Urology held last year (Sept 2007), only 4 delegates, two each from Cambodia and Vietnam were sponsored by ASU.

August 25^th 2008: Live Surgery Workshop, Department of Urology, Singapore General Hospital, on ‘Transurethral Enucleation of Prostate’ featuring Dr Ken Nagakawa (Japan) on ‘Transurethral Enucleation using Bipolar (TUEB)’; Dr Anil Varshney (India) on ‘Holmium Laser Enucleation (HoLeP)’ and Dr Zheng Shaobo (China) using ‘PK Transurethral Enucleation of Prostate (TUERP)’   

B: UAA Lectureships: The following lecturerships were arranged by the ASU in 2007-2008:

International

Regional

C: UAA Visiting Fellow

Dr Ashok Sharma (India) was accepted as a UAA Visiting Fellow from 1^st to 27^th September 2007 to Department of Urology, Singapore General Hospital.

UAA Visiting Fellowship could be better advertised.  Minimum criteria:

·         More than 35 years of age

·         Current practice in a public hospital

·         Observer’s attachment not more than 4 weeks

·         Successful candidate would need to write a report of their visit, within one month after completion of the program

Future Plans

1.  The ASU would continue to sponsor UAA lecturers to National meetings of member nations. Member nations are encouraged to write to ASU/UAA for the named lecture (UAA lecture) at their Annual Scientific Meetings.

2.  ASU also would be pleased to help organized workshops/symposia in conjunction with regional/ international meetings organized by member nations. One such workshop in 2009 is the International Congress of the Bangladesh Association of Urological Surgeons on Feb 12^th and 13^th 2009 and Urology Fair of the Singapore Urological Association in March 2009.

3. ASU would help to co-ordinate the collaboration of various subspecialty societies affiliated to UAA, in the running of these workshops/symposia.

4. The 5^th Asian Symposium will be held from 4^th to 6^th June 2009 in Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam.  This is in collaboration with the Vietnam Urological Association.

5. The Advanced Course in Urology in August/September 2008 received very good feedback from the participants who were mainly urological trainees (less than 35 years of age).  ASU is planning to continue sponsoring this course for the urological trainees from the region in Year 2009, one in Singapore in August/September and maybe one to be held in Japan, April 2009?.  There was an oral examination (Viva) held on the last day of the course.  We hope that this would be gradually elevated to a Board Exam for the Asian Board of Urology in the future.

6. The creation of UAA Visiting Consultant (VC) Program would be useful in transferring and sharing expertise to Departments in Asia. ASU will help to recommend such VC and coordinate the visit.  The ASU will provide return economy airfare for the VC, while the host Department will take care of accommodation and hospitality. The duration for such program is one week.

7. Asian Preceptorship: Targeted at young consultants in Asia between the age of  35 to 50 years working in public institutions to come together for a 2-day meeting with  in-depth discussion of subjects and presentations by the participants, guided by preceptors.

Collaboration with International Organizations

One suggestion for collaboration with international Urological organizations namely Societe Internationale Urologie (SIU), European Association of Urology (EAU) and American Urological Association (AUA) is for the organizations to help UAA in sourcing for faculty for our various workshops, symposia, and to provide the airfare/travel allowance of their faculty. Expert advice and exchange of experiences would be sought for the setting up of the Asian Board of Urology. This would help to standardize the practice of Urology in Asia, and promote better urological care.