Secretary General’s Report
2007 – 2008

Dr Masaru Murai (Japan)
Secretary general, UAA



It has been my privilege to serve as Secretary-General of the Urological Association of Asia (UAA) for the past two years and I thank everyone for their support. I am happy to tell you that our association has steadily developed through tremendous effort and contribution by the council members and others from each country that form a part of our organization. On this occasion, I would like to look at the history of our association with special reference to the past two years. I will also share with you my views on where the UAA is going and how we can get there.

As we all know, the UAA was established in 1990 when urologists from 11 nations met at a joint Japanese-Korean Urology Congress in Fukuoka, Japan. The first meeting was called the First Asian Congress of Urology (ACU). The founding members had foresight to form this important urological organization, which has to cater to the needs of half of the world’s population. The core purpose of the UAA is to promote Urology in Asia for the benefit of patients in the region. The main activities of our association are the organization of ACU and the activities of the Asian School of Urology (ASU). Following the successful first ACU Meeting, many more congresses have been organized and the 9th ACU will be held in New Delhi this year.

Over the years, the organization has evolved to the current association of member nations, with the General Council as its main governing authority, chaired by the President. The executive committee is formed by the President, the immediate past President, the President elect, who is the organizing Chairman of the next ACU, the Secretary General and the Treasurer. The Executive Committee is given the task of co-opting other members to help in the running of the Association. They include the Director of ASU, the Scientific Chairman, the International Committee Chairman, Director of Research, the Editor of Asian Urology and the Representative to the International Consultation of Urological Diseases. Since 2006, we have a Fund-raising Committee whose Chairman is also included in among the co-opted members of the Executive Committee.

The Asian Congress of Urology

At the executive committee meeting held in February 2006, it was decided that from 2010, the 10th ACU in Taipei would be organized centrally by the UAA secretariat, coordinating with the local organizing committee (LOC) which would provide input on the scientific programme, trade exhibitions and local hospitality. This way, the process of organizing the Congress will not have to be relearned. With these changes, there would be more uniformity in the ACU and the balance sheet for the Congress would become more favorable. However despite the discussion at General Council Meeting in August 2007 and two consecutive executive committee meetings in March, 2007 and 2008, we are not yet ready to organize ACU centrally by the UAA secretariat. The LOC of the 10th ACU, Taiwan is preparing the Congress in the usual way under the chairmanship of Dr. Ming Kuen Lai.

The Asian School of Urology

The ASU was set up as an educating body of the UAA in the late 1990s and has conducted several successful workshops and courses in the past. Enormous hard work and high ideals were established by the past directors of the ASU as well as current director, Dr Keong Tatt Foo. The ASU would welcome suggestions or applications for assistance to run workshops in member nations. The workshops could be held in conjunction with the national association meeting. In order to fulfill the mission of the ASU, we need to establish more networks for ASU to be made known to the member nations of UAA. There is also an idea of collaboration between ASU and The European School of Urology (ESU). This issue will be discussed at the General Council Meeting in October 2008.

News letter "Asian Urology" and Website of UAA/ASU/ACU

The organization had published “Asian Urology” not only as a newsletter but also with updated scientific articles in Asia. However, “Asian Urology “has not been published for the past two years due to the reasons of cost. This issue will be also considered at next General Council Meeting. The Executive Committee agreed that UAA would create its own UAA Website which would incorporate the activities of ASU and ACU. The Website is now available at URL: http://www.uaanet.org/.

UAA Membership and Central Secretariat issues

Currently our organization consists of national membership of the member organizations. Any organization of urologists within Asia shall be eligible for national membership. According to the constitution, membership dues for national members shall be in such amounts as may be prescribed by General Council from time to time. So far no dues have been collected from member associations. Most of the costs of maintaining our association have been covered by the contributions from the organization of the previous ACU meetings. Moreover the business work at the Central Office has been relying on Ms. Angie See, Administrative Co-ordinator of Department of Urology, Singapore General Hospital. Not only from the financial point of view, it is felt that without individual membership, there is a reduced sense of belonging and commitment to UAA. A taskforce committee for the central secretariat and membership issue was formed at the 16th General Council Meeting in 2007. Dr. Ming Kuen Lai has been appointed to be the chairman of this task force. At the last Executive Committee in March 2008 in conjunction with the Taskforce Committee, it was decided to establish a central secretariat. The place of the office tentatively is located in Singapore. The membership issue was carried over to the next meeting for more precise consideration. Meanwhile the Australasian Urological Association has been keen to communicate with the UAA. The Executive Committee agreed also to invite Urological Association of Australia and New Zealand to join the UAA as an “Affiliated Member”. To maintain the central office and to achieve our educational activities it is essential for the society to secure its financial base. The secretary-general with fund-raising committee has worked together to raise financial resources for the UAA.

Eighteen years after the foundation of our association, we have now twenty member nations stretching from Iran in the west to Japan in the east, including Cambodia who joined us in 2007 at the time of the Asian Symposium held in Phnom Penh in conjunction with 16th Business Meeting of the UAA General Council.

We shall see the UAA enter a new era in the next decade. We have come a long way but there is still a longer way to go. If we can put the interest of the UAA before the national interest and can work for the same goals, we can make the UAA our own organization. We need the support of all our members and their valuable suggestion. Only then would we be able to achieve the aim of providing better urological care for patients in Asia. It is my sincere hope that the UAA will strive harder to achieve our golden goal. Let us all come together as one.


20th September 2008