WCA | WFSA e-magazine

Opening Ceremony

History of Organization of WCA 2012

Dr. David J. Wilkinson letter

Faculty

Dr. Angela Enright letter

Dr. Alfredo Cattaneo farewell letter

WCA 2016

“Harrold Griffith” Symposium

Drs. Jaime Wikinski and Luiz Imbelloni Homage

Photo Contest

Farewell Party

Panel of FAAAAR

Helsinki Declaration

e-posters Sessions

Workshops

INDEX

Plans to host the 2012 WCA began back in 2000 when then FAAAAR President, Dr. Benjamin Franzen, headed a substantial delegation that went to the World Congress in Montreal to apply for nomination.

Several members of the group were in favor of ap-plying to host the event, including Dr. Franzen, Drs. Patrick Kelly, Alfredo Parietti, Roberto Delgado, Juan Carlos Flores, Eduardo Perez, Gustavo Elena and Juan Carlos De Luca.

I must admit that even though I travelled with the group, I was not entirely convinced, primarily be-cause of the WFSA’s feeling that Argentina was not a safe country for a World Congress. Nevertheless, we worked hard at promoting and lobbying for this un-likely opportunity, with valuable support from the In-ternational Congress people, especially Ms. Malu Lentino.

The group stayed committed to the cause submitting all necessary paperwork requested by the WFSA, de-spite continually receiving the less than encouraging comments about safety. However, we made the list of applicants that year along with Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and the United Arab Emirates.

This was the way things stood until March 11th 2004 when the train bombings in Madrid added to the events of September 11th 2001 in the USA and dras-tically changed the concept of global security. At that time, I called and spoke to the acting FAAAAR

President, Dr. Roberto Delgado. We discussed the idea of a different global perception of security and we de-cided to move forward our presentation. In fact, Dr. Delgado asked me if I could present our bid at the World Congress in Paris, which was in April that year.

I was fortunate to have the invaluable assistance of Ms. Lentina who helped me prepare the presentation. I also had the help of Ms. Garate Nere, my English teacher, who listened to me practicing my speech at no less than 30 times!

In order to help the presentation, I asked for the help of architect Mariano Arenas. He presented the Conven-tion Centre as a possible venue in 3D with AutoCAD. It was extremely convincing and I believe it was one of the most compelling features of our bid.

On April 19th, 2004, the moment had arrived: the small group of Legionnaires could be counted on two hands: Eduardo Perez, Rodolfo Jascheck Nestor Ro-berto, Patricio Kelly, Juan Carlos Flores, Malu Lentino, Fernando Tomiello, Roberto Delgado and myself. We were the first to make the presentation to the Venue Committee, made up of 14 anesthesiologists from around the world, including Drs. Martin Marx, Anis Baraka, Humberto Sainz. We were up against presen-

tations from Japan, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates and Singapore.

The very next day, in the WFSA Assembly of Del-egates, we were informed that we had been offi-cially selected – a great conquest for Argentine An-esthesiology!

On our return to Argentina, our friends and col-leagues who had doubted us began to realize that we had achieved what was once only a dream, a dream thought up by Dr. Patricio Kelly. Again, I must admit that during my chairmanship of the FAAAAR of Dr. Parietti, Dr. Kelly presented a pro-posal and I signed a note informing him that sub-mitting Argentina as a candidate would not be ap-propriate.

At the Extraordinary FAAAAR Delegates Council on May 2005, held in the city of Córdoba, a committee was appointed which was composed of:

Chairman: Alfredo CattaneoScientific Secretary: Marcelo CamposMembers: Carlos Bonofiglio Daniel Crosara Roberto Delgado

which involved the legal adviser of the FAAAAR, the EC and the economic adviser of the WFA, an expert in international contracts living in England, and fi-nally all of the members of COC who were completely in agreement about the signing of the contract, which was formally done by Dr. Sorotski as Chairman of the FAAAAR, and myself as the Chairman of the COC.

After only a short time, we came to realize that there was a complete lack of support from the contracted PCO for our local activities. We began a process to renounce this total lack of support, which was prom-ised on their part, which created false expectations and which were never delivered. We had a Confer-ence Secretary, Maria Eugenia Lombardi, who worked very closely with Dr. Bonofiglio, and became his Personal Assistant, but eventually resigned be-cause of a number of problems. We then contracted Ms. Maria Pia Stenger, who served until the end of the Congress with her duties as secretary, and is still working to complete everything that is needed on the administrative side of the WCA 2012.

The lack of local support was creating problems. and we decided that local professional support was es-sential. This led to the meeting in Porto Alegre, in November 2010 between the Chairman of the WFSA, Dr. Angela Enright, the EC member of the WFSA, Dr. Gonzalo Barreiro , the representative of ChoiceLive , Mr. Chris Stean and I as Chairman of the Organizing Committee. Before the meeting, we put together a list of serious complaints that were promised to us by ChoiceLive, none of which we had received.

We went to Porto Alegre with the news that we had already hired local support, Ms. Maria Claudia Iturre-gui, to who we had turned for help when we began to realize the seriousness of this problem. With her on board, the entire organization improved drastically.

Given the circumstances, we were able to promote the Congress worldwide, with a huge helping hand from the members of the WFSA, from the CEEA com-

mittees and from our many friends who promoted the WCA 2012 in their academic activities.

It was possible to create, with the work of the Scien-tific Committee, chaired by Dr.Francisco Carlos Bonofiglio, a very important scientific program, with over 560 teachers, and an extensive program of workshops that were offered in English and Spanish, coordinated by Dr Daniel Monkovski.

Moreover, thanks to the work of Dr. Gustavo Elena, for the first time in World Congress history, a presen-tation was made for free papers and studies in the form of e-posters, with a program developed in the city of Rosario that was widely accepted by the au-thors and their assistants.

With a lot of hard work, and not free of problems, we came to the opening and development of the 15th World Congress of Anesthesiologists that you at-tended from the 25th – 30th March 2012.

Thank you very much for participating. Alfredo CattaneoCOC Chairman WCA 2012

Carlos Deluca Gustavo Elena Juan Carlos Flores Héctor Martinetti Luis Moggi Daniel Monkovski Eduardo Pérez Saúl Sorotski

Thus, we began working on the promotion and or-ganization of a structure to carry out such an event, and a small group composed of Drs. Cattaneo, Campos, Elena,Bonofiglio, Perez, Monkovski and Sorotski. They began negotiating with La Rural, and other potential organizations that would help us with this event.

The areas proposed to work were:

1 - Executive Area: Chairman and a Main Secretary 2 - Scientific Area: Scientific Secretary and Scien-tific Committee, including all the sub-themes of the specialty3 - Finance Area: Secretary of Finance and Finance Committee

4 - Relations with Companies and Laboratories: Com-pany Secretary Contracts and Laboratories and ad-hoc Committee5 - Communications Area : Secretary of Communica-tions and Communications Committee - only for com-munications with anesthesiologists6 - Press Area: Press Secretary and Press Committee - only for communications with the national and in-ternational press7 - Area of Social Activities: Social Activities Secre-tary and Social Activities Committee8 - Convention Center Area: General Coordinator of La Rural9 - Lodging Area: Accommodations Coordinator.

After the 2007 Argentine Congress took place in Mar del Plata, several companies were invited to make their own bid to work on the team of the Professional Congress Organizer (PCO). After a detailed examina-tion of the bids and backgrounds of Congresos Inter-nacionales, MCI (Argentina) and Next, the consulta-tions with the counsels of the WFSA and FAAAAR unanimously decided on the Next group. A joint ven-ture group associated with La Rural, Next had an in-

stitutional structure similar to that of Global Options, who were the organizers of the 2008 WCA.

Work started immediately, without a final contract being signed, as we had to make our presentation in the very next World Congress in Cape Town in May 2008. The work was intense, but we received good support from Next. Before the WCA in South Africa, Dr. Marcelo Campos resigned as Scientific Secretary. In his place, the AAARBA appointed Dr. Bonofiglio.

In order to make our presentation as future hosts of the official WCA 2012, a team was assembled: Drs. Sorotski, Monkovski, Bonofiglio, Perez, Elena and I, accompanied by three members of Next. Overall, our presence in South Africa was very good, with a stand very well lo-cated and structured, and well received by visitors who came in droves to receive information about the next Congress. We presented our general plans to the EC members of the WFSA, where we received significant support from Chris Staen, the manager of the company that organized the event in Cape Town, who helped us put together a budget so that our proposal was complete.

On our return from Cape Town, we encountered several problems with Next, and for several reasons we decided, once again unanimously, that we would end our partner-ship with them and draw up a package to arrange pay-ment for their work up until that point. However, we went ahead and signed the contract with La Rural as it was the only place that could fulfill all of the needs and character-istics of our event. Despite this, we were able to make some changes to the original suggestions from La Rural.

Again, we invited other organizations to bid for the va-cated PCO position. The companies that applied were MCI (Maria Claudia Iturregui), ICM (International Con-gress Ex) and ChoiceLive. The Organization Committee evaluated the presentations of these three companies and unanimously decided on the foreign company ChoiceLive primarily based upon their clarity and preci-sion of presentation.We began to put together a contract for ChoiceLive,

History of the organization of 15th







































































Eight years ago, in 2004, at the World Congress of Anaesthesiologists (WCA) in Paris, a group of experienced anaesthetists from all over the world met in a room as if it were the Venue Committee of the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (WFSA). Their task was to pick the city that would host the 15th WCA in 2012. Out of the many excellent applications they selected Buenos Aires, Ar-gentina and the work began! Now just over a week after the end of the Con-gress we can reflect on what has been achieved

Buenos Aires is an elegant city, with wide tree-lined avenues, tall classical buildings, amazing sculptures, numerous art museums and fascinating tour-ist sites abound - all within easy reach. The food is truly memorable (especially for meat-eaters!) and the wine outstanding; café culture flour-ishes and the Argentineans are natural, charming and stylish hosts.

The Federación Argentina de Asociaciones de Anestesia, Analgesia y Reani-mación (FAAAAR) hosted a tremendously successful meeting. Their Confer-ence Organising Committee (COC) led by Dr Alfredo Cattaneo, from Men-doza, worked tirelessly to promote and create a Congress that will be long remembered by all of those who attended. The scientific programme ably created by Dr Carlos Bonofiglio catered for all tastes, cultures and needs. This task should never be underestimated and requires immense patience and application. Carlos and his team did themselves proud.

The World Congress is also the time when a great deal of the logistical work of the WFSA has to take place. Normally, General Assemblies begin their work once delegates from each have been appointed. These General Assem-blies were different on this occasion as formal elections were held for the first time with ballots for the Executive Committee and Officer positions. This is also the time when all the WFSA Committees, both specialist and permanent, can meet and map out their strategies for the next four years. This process also went better than expected.

Buenos Aires, a great choice for a World Congress of Anaesthesiologists, meeting.

Letter of WFSA President

David J. Wilkinson,President, WFSA 2012-16.

The social program was also a triumph: an excellent official Congress dinner with a distin-guished host speaker, a fantastic tango show and a memorable farewell barbecue to finish the meeting.

It is natural that not everyone was pleased by everything. There were long queues for registration and bag collection at the begin-ning of the meeting. There were occasional glitches with the audio visual arrangements but most delegates recognized that when catering for ten thousand delegates, some things will go awry at some point. Fortunately, our guests kindly made al-lowances.

All who attended the Cape Town WCA in 2008 believed they had been to a very special meeting. Argentina and FAAAAR have now set a new standard for the WCA. Having met and talked to the COC for the Hong Kong Society who will be running the 2016 meeting, I have no doubt that they too will rise to the challenge and make that meeting (August 28-September 2 2016) a special event that we should all put in our diary immediately (it is on the WFSA website: www.anaesthesiologists.org). We all repeat our heartfelt congratulations to our Argentinean colleagues who were innovative, courageous and effective in their planning and ex-ecution of a wonderful WCA and still managed to be charming hosts. Well done and many thanks

The 15th World Congress of AnaesthesiologistsBuenos Aires, March 2012

Ever since Buenos Aires was announced as the host city of the 15th World Congress of Anaesthesi-ologists, people were looking forward to going there. It did not disappoint. With its beautiful buildings, its many parks, its great restaurants and wonderful wines, who could not fall in love with Buenos Aires? In such a setting, the World Congress was destined for success.

The delegate registration exceeded expectations and gave us all the opportunity to meet friends and colleagues from every corner of the world. With the weather gods being kind, it was possible to stroll the grounds of La Rural and enjoy the sunshine. However the scientific programme drew people inside and the many concurrent rooms remained filled until the very last day. There were lots of lively debates and discussions and always many questions at the end. The Harold Griffith Symposium was one of the highlights of the congress. Professor Alan Merry of New Zealand, Dr Iain Wilson of the United Kingdom and Dr Angela Enright of Canada described the origins, development and applications of the Lifebox Project to a full house. Feedback was incredibly positive and we hope that this will lead to increasing involvement of the world anesthesia community in this endeavour.

A World Congress is unique in that there are so many people there from different coun-tries. There were many opportunities to meet especially at the social events. The Open-ing Ceremony was quintessential Argentina with some wonderful tango demonstra-tions, all done to a background of Buenos Aires scenes. It was also nice to stroll around the exhibition area and stop to chat to delegates and exhibitors. Particularly nice was the National Society area where people tended to congregate. The Closing BBQ was a big success with everyone relaxing in the sunshine and enjoying great food and wine.

It is difficult to describe such a big congress and such a busy week in just a few words – fun, friendly, informative, educational, busy, international - are some that spring to mind. The other words that also leap up are hard work, commit-ment, dedication and endurance. These describe the Congress Organizing Com-mittee of the FAAAAR who worked so hard to make this congress such a suc-cess. We are immensely grateful to all of them and hope that they will look back on their efforts with immense pride and satisfaction. The World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists says to them “Congratulations and thank you for a job well done.”

Angela Enright

Letter, of outgoing president of WFSA

550 FACULTY600 CONFERENCES95% OF PROGRAM COMPLETED

THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION !

faculty

DURING THE CONGRESS, THE PLENARY "HAROLD GRIFFITH" SYMPOSIUM WAS HELD. THIS TIME THE

MAIN TOPIC WAS THE LIFEBOX PROJECT, CREATED TO FILL THE PULSE OXIMETRY DEFICIT IN THE WORLD. AT

THE END OF THE SYMPOSIUM, DRS. ALAN MERRY AND IAIN WILSON WERE EACH AWARDED THE HAROLD

GRIFFITH MEDAL BY DR. ANGELA ENRIGHT.

SYMPOSIUM"HAROLD GRIFFITH"

HAROLD GRIFFITH

S E S S I O N SE-POSTERS

The Digital Posters Session was an area in which the scientific papers, accepted for presentation at the Congress, were all put on display in Digital Poster format.

This “new modality” allowed all of the scientific papers be shown in a continuous form on 50” HD monitors throughout the Digital Post-ers Sessions. As a result, it was no longer necessary to submit the poster on printed paper.

In summary, a total of 756 digital posters were presented, the same as the number of presenting authors, assisted by 186 Chairs and with an estimated audience of 7,400 delegates. The total time of poster exhibition was 151 hours.

Dr. Gustavo ElenaChairman e-poster Sessions

DURING THE DEVELOPMENT OF CONGRESS THERE WERE MADE NUMEROUS WORK-SHOPS, ON DIFFERENT TOPICS:

CARDIOPULMONARY REANIMATION – RCP

REGIONAL ANAESTHESIA / BLOCKS

TRANSESOPHAGIC ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY – TEE

WORKING WITH SIMULATORS

AIRWAY MANAGEMENT

WORKSHOPS

IN THE FIRST STATION BASIC CPR MANEUVERS WAS EXPLAINED, SHOWN AND PRACTICED AND THEIR RELEVANCE WAS DISCUSSED.

IN THE OTHER 4, DIFFERENT KINDS OF CARDIAC ARREST AND THEIR TREATMENT WAS EX-PLAINED, SHOWN AND PRACTICED: THE MOST FREQUENT BRADYARRHYTHMIAS AND TACHYARRHYTHMIAS, THEIR DIAGNOSIS AND EMERGENCY TREATMENT.

WORKSHOPS





AIRWAY MANAGEMENT

THE ATTENDANTS WERE DIVIDED INTO GROUPS THAT ROTATED AMONG 5 STATIONS WHERE THEY LEARNED ABOUT SURFACE ANATOMICAL LANDMARKS, DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO PER-FORM PERIPHERAL NERVE BLOCKS IN UPPER AND LOWER EXTREMITIES, GUIDED BY NERVE STIMULATION AND ULTRASOUND AND CON-TINUOUS REGIONAL ANESTHESIA TECHNIQUES.

WORKSHOPS





AIRWAY MANAGEMENT

THIS WORKSHOP WAS FEATURE A HANDS-ON LIVE DEMONSTRATION OF CARDIAC ANATOMY IN WET LAB PLUS A COMPREHENSIVE TEE EXAMINATION AND LIVE STIMULATION. FURTHERMORE THE FOLLOWING TOPICS WILL BE COVERED; NUTS AND BOLTS OF UL-TRASOUND PHYSICS AND ARTIFACTS, ASSESSMENT OF LV AND RV FUNCTION FOR BEGINNERS, ASSESS-MENT OF MITRAL VALVE IN OR FOR BEGINNERS, AS-SESSMENT OF AORTIC VALVE IN OR FOR BEGINNERS

WORKSHOPS





AIRWAY MANAGEMENT

THE WORK WITH SIMULATORS AS LEARNING METHODOLOGY WAS A GREAT CONTRIBUTION TO SCIEN-TIFIC AND EDUCATIONAL COURSES PROVIDED.

WORKSHOPS





AIRWAY MANAGEMENT

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS WORKSHOP WAS PROVIDE THE KNOWLEDGE FOR ADVANCED AIRWAY MANAGEMENT AND VENTILATION IN ALL TYPES OF PATIENTS.

DEVELOP HANDS-ON SKILLS FOR AIRWAY CONTROL IN ALL TYPES OF PATIENTS

WORKSHOPS





AIRWAY MANAGEMENT

SESSION

AUTHORITIESChairman: Crosara, Daniel (Argentina) Coordinator: Schkair, Juan Carlos (Argentina)

TOPICS:Pain, Pharmacology, Regional Anaesthesia,

Professional Liability And Prevention Of Legal Risk, Critical Medicine, Haematology, Obstetrics, Paediatrics.

SPEAKERS:Sabino, Roberto

Pires, MariselStinga, José Luis

Prozzi, GuillermoBu�a,MartínAzar, Héctor

Roitman, Corina

INTERACTIVE EXPERIENCE WITH FAAAAR Interactive experience with FAAAAR (Argentine Federation of Anaesthesiology Societies) based upon real experiences of the anaesthesiology practice derived from the questions received in the program "FAAAAR responds".

Education in Latin America:

PANEL OF THE F.A.A.A.A.R.

HELSINKI DECLARATION ON THE SAFETY OF PATIENTS ANESTHESIOLOGY

AT THE CELEBRATION OF 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE CREATION OF THE LATIN AMERICAN CONFEDERATION OF SOCIETIES OF ANES-

THESIOLOGISTS (CLASA), IN THE EVENT HELD AT THE "MAR DEL PLATA" ON THURSDAY, MARCH 29, THE MEMBER SOCIETIES OF CLASA SIGNED THE

MEMERSHIP OF THE "DECLARATION OF HELSINKI".

AS APPROVED AT THE LAST GENERAL ASSEMBLY CLASA, HELD IN PANAMA, WAS SIGNED ADHERENCE TO THIS STATEMENT ON

PATIENT SAFETY IN ANESTHESIOLOGY, MADE ON JUNE 13, 2010 IN HELSINKI.

Dr. Jaime Wikinski was, is and will be a grand master of and Latin Ameri-can Anaesthesiology present genera-tions.

He was a disciple of Dr. John A. Nesi, and quickly highlighted both in their clinical and scientific practice, with the production of numerous works.

In the early 70's he was invited by the University of Caracas, where he and Professor Nesi worked out an outstanding School of Anaesthesiol-ogy. In 1976 he was became profes-sor of the Department of Anaesthe-sia, Central University of Venezuela, a post he held for nearly 10 years. In 1985 he returned to Argentina and in 1986 he was appointed Director of the Postgraduate Course in Argentine Society of Anaesthesiology of Buenos Aires. In 1990 he became Di-rector of Medical Specialists in An-aesthesiology School, Academic Unit Argentine Society of Anaesthesiology Association of Buenos Aires, UBA. With great dedication and hard work was one of the true creators of high-level scientific prestige and now holds the college course.

| ||

Luiz Eduardo Imbelloni is currently an associate director of the Regional An-esthesia Institute and a Professor at the School of Medicine, Faculdade de Medicina Nova Esperança.

He earned the title of Professor Etranger, Universite Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg, France, in 1981. Prof. Imbelloni has published extensively in the field of spinal anesthesia and peripheral nerve blocks, and has also authored two books about spinal an-esthesia in Brazil.

His main research interest is the spinal anesthesia, and he recently published a study on magnetic reso-nance imaging of the thoracic spine, opening the field to the use of tho-racic spinal anesthesia. He is a pio-neer in the use of spinal anesthesia for laparoscopic cholecystectomy in Brazil and is currently active in clini-cal trials for spinal anesthesia and peripheral nerve blocks.

He also serves as consultant to two major pharmaceutical companies.

Homage to: Dr. Jaime WikinskiDr. Luiz Imbelloni

PHOTO CONTEST

INTR

OD

UCT

ION

PHOTO CONTEST

Under the framework of the XV Buenos Aires World Congress of

Anesthesiology 2012, a Photography Contest took place which included anesthesiologists from around the world. 511

pictures were submitted from 21 different countries, and were judged by two prestigious Argentine photographers, Ms

Adriana Lestido and Mr Juan Travnik.

The proposed topics were, My Country and My Workplace. From all of the submissions, 38 were put on display in the

Congress’ Photo Gallery. Of these, 9 received special recogni-tion by the jury.

The first prize for each category were as follows: the winner of My Workplace was ‘Nurse or Angel’ submitted by Dr. Fran-

cisco Tascon, from Venezuela. In the category My Country, first place was given to Dr. Adolfo Venturini, from Argentina,

who presented the picture called ‘Cacheuta.’

The contest was organized by Drs. Bernardo Bokser and En-rique Lastiri of the Anaesthesiology Asociation of Buenos

Aires, who apart from stressing the high level and quality of the photographs that were submitted, rewarded the

participants with a classic book of photography with works of Argentine authors and collec-

tions.

PHOTO CONTEST

Author: Dr. Adolfo Venturini,

from Argentina, 1st Award

in the category.

Title: “Cacheuta”

PHOTO CONTEST1st AWARD | “My country”

PHOTO CONTEST

from

in the category.

Author

1st Award

1 AWARD | “My work place”

Title: “Angel o Nurse”

PHOTO CONTESTst

On Friday 30 March, after the closing ceremony and in an atmos-phere of camaraderie and friendship, the closing Fiesta-Asado took place in 3 areas: the Opera Pampa, the Central Restaurant and the Palace Frers Restaurant.

Attended by 3,600 delegates, the final tally was 12,000 pasties, 12,000 sandwiches, 12 veal and 8 pork joints and1,400 bottles of wine.

It all culminated with a big party at the Palace Frers: chatting, dan-cing, and goodbyes ... but only until the next event.

Farewell Party

I have had the honour, and the responsibility, of having chaired the Organising Committee of this 15th World Congress of Anaesthesiologists.

We have begun it on Sunday, March 25th, and we have passed 5 intense days, where colleagues from 122 countries have en-joyed to be all together, in La Rural, in Buenos Aires city.

We have completed more than 95 percent of the scientific pro-gram, and in general, most of delegates are very pleased with the information and practical tuition received from the faculty group. We deeply thank all of them.

Delgates have received 600 lectures, and there have been 42 workshops developed in 2 languages, English and Spanish. Those workshops were done by 2600 delegates.

There was a “new modality” of poster presentation, the digital posters sessions. A total of 756 posters were presented, with the equal number of presenting authors, assisted by 186 Chairs and with an estimated audience of 7,400 delegates. This activ-ity was also a success of the congress.

Even though all problems our world is living, we achieved a very important delegates registration:

01- Pre-Registered Delegates 8.465 02- Faculty Registrations 59003- Nurse Registrations 435

Total Registrations: 9.490 Delegates

01- Accompaning persons 603

Apart from it, industry support was very important, demon-strated through the 103 booths we had at the exhibition, apart from the13 Societies stands.

As I desired you at the Open Ceremony of the 11WCA, I hope that you have returned to your homes pleased with the Con-gress, and in love with our culture, our people, and our entire

country.Fortunately, I have made many new friends, and I imagine that all of you have lived same experience.

I am convinced that a world with people decided to base relation-ships in friendship, is the best world we can bring to future gen-erations. I am sure that meetings like the one we have lived are the weapons we must develop to achieve it.

Finally, I would like to thank:

|All members of the Congress Organizing Committee for the very good developed work.

|All those having help us in the organization of the WCA2012,

|All the support we received from the government of the City of Buenos Aires, and from the National Government, and

|Each of you, colleagues from all around the world, who are really the target of all our efforts.

As I have also mentioned in the Open Ceremony, this event will remain as an unforgettable experience for me, I hope that it will be the case for you too!!!

Good bye friends, I hope to meet you again soon. Next 16th WCA in Hong Kong, will be a very good excuse to do it.

Thank you for having been here in Buenos Aires, thank you for having trust in our proposal!

Alfredo CattaneoChairman of the Congress

Organizer Committee WCA2012

Dear colleagues and friends:

Welcome Message WCA 2016

I’m sure you enjoyed your visit to Buenos Aires as I certainly did. My congratulations to Alfredo Cattaneo and his team for a superb congress. Now you have four years to plan your trip for the next World Congress!

I extend my warmest welcome to all of you to join us at this conference and to visit Hong Kong - “Asia’s World City” - the most vibrant city in the world. A safe, cosmopolitan and friendly place with excellent infrastructure, Hong Kong is strategically located in the heart of Asia. Over 50% of the world’s population lives within 5 hours flying time, with 85 airlines serving over 150 destinations worldwide. What better place for a World Congress?

Our organising committee will work hard to put together a comprehensive and clinically relevant program that will update you on the latest standards and innovations in anaesthesia, pain medicine and intensive care. There will be satellite meetings in some of our adjacent countries so take your time and extend your trip. With so many things to see and do where “East meets West” you will be spoilt for choice with our superb and varied res-taurants, luxury hotels, shopping, bea-ches, country parks and natural beauty. If that is not enough, we will ensure a social schedule with so-mething for everyone. So come along, bring your friends and family and don’t miss this exciting event!

Prof. Michael IrwinPresident C.O.C. WCA 2016

Documents

WCA | WFSA e-magazine