MMA Annual Celebrations 2005
The annual conference 2005 of MMA UK was held in September (24th September 2005) to coincide with Onam – the national festival of Kerala, giving the conference its traditional flavour of Onam.
This conference was undoubtedly one of the better functions held by the Association. There was a scientific session which gave everybody a glimpse of the makeup and significance of Rheumatoid factor. This probably was adequate and brief enough and anything more elaborate would have been inappropriate in the context of this conference. The entertainment was something everyone waited for with great expectation. The singers from Kerala and the others from here, performed extremely well. What would have been a wonderful experience for the audience was marred by the introduction of a high percentage of Hindi songs, relegating Malayalam songs in to second place. There are ample concerts held in England where one can listen to Hindi songs without the interjection of even one Malayalam song! The refreshments, snacks and the meal were good and served to the satisfaction of most people.
The Annual General Body Meeting raised several issues and the main issues were the funding of the association – MMA (UK), preparation for the Association’s golden jubilee in the year 2007 and whether one should hold the annual conference always, as it has been, on the last Saturday in September.
Serious consideration was given to and approved by the majority to raise the annual subscription to £50.00. However, it was a wise decision by the AGM to seek the views of wider membership, in the form of a questionnaire along with another issue which was the suggested move to hold the conference in June rather than in September. The month of September, incidentally is found attractive to other similar organisations!
The balance sheet produced by the Hon Treasurer revealed a healthy balance which certainly is a reflection of the prudent management There were no seriouobjections to another suggestion that an adequate number of enthusiastic and passionate supporters of the Association could be approached to see if they would agree to underwrite any likely loss when MMA dares to organise quality functions in future.
The Officers of the Association were reminded that the Association must not be reduced to an “event organising group” and that it was imperative that its constitution and objectives should be strictly adhered to as though it was the heart and soul of the organisation. Major changes were agreed to and implemented during the previous years and the absence of any records of such vital information for posterity in the form of approved minutes of previous AGM, signed by the chairperson at the current AGM and securely held on file was lamentable.
The need to improve and establish an effective method of communication with members was emphasised at the AGM. Besides using the traditional methods such asletters by post, it was reminded that the Association should make the best use of its resurrected website and to use publications such as Kerala Link for advertising and publicising relevant information as well as the use of electronic mail for two way communications consistently. Half the battle will be won if an effective communication system could be established.
If the Association is to scale further heights, the Association needs members who would give their unreserved support and elected officers with well considered ideas in their head, real passion in their heart and sheer determination in their guts.
Organisations of other Kerala Medical Colleges could be more co - operative rather than competitive by coming together to have joint functions other than AGM of respective Associations.
The observations made, concerns expressed and the solutions recommended are one member’s perception of the spirit of what transpired at the AGM on 24th September 2005 and his reaction to them. They are certainly not part of an official report. Any comments from members, and only members, may be expressed on our website.
Dr S Jayarajan