Yang Berbahagia, Dato' Dr Zaki Morad bin Mohd Zaher, the Deputy Master of our umbrella body, the Academy of Medicine graced the Opening of the 2009 College of Radiology’s Annual Scientific and Annual General Meeting on 30 May 2009. He magnanimously consented to a dialogue session after the delivery of his keynote address on the “National Specialist Register”.

This topic was felt to be timely as it was best that delegates and members of the College of Radiology (CoR) understood this exercise of registration better and provide a direct avenue for queries, clarifications or comments. Dato’ Dr Zaki was not “disappointed” as a lively dialogue session ensued and had to be curtailed so that the schedule would not be upset.

Assoc Professor Dr Yang Faridah was the Master of Ceremonies for the Opening of the CoR scientific meeting on the morning of 30 May 2009. After the dialogue session, Dato’ Dr Zaki was presented with a token of appreciation from the CoR and he then opened the Trade Exhibition. The President of the CoR, Dr Evelyn Ho had in her welcome speech mentioned the need to focus on doing more of what is right and less of that which is “wrong” – to gain skills and experience and focus on being well-grounded in one’s specialty under the umbrella body of the CoR. She also took the opportunity to thank all who made the event possible and all the vendors who supported this annual CoR academic activity.

Prof Dr Basri JJ Abdullah was the scientific chair of the meeting. There were a total of 15 speakers, from local and foreign fraternities speaking on topics that covered radiation protection, chest, abdominal, spinal and musculoskeletal emergencies. They presented very good lectures with practical value to the delegates. New technology such as digital tomosynthesis in radiography is an exciting development that might prove very useful and avoid the need for other investigations such as CT scans in evaluating emergencies or musculoskeletal trauma. The roles of basic investigations such as the humble radiographs and the higher end investigations such as CT and MRI in specific situations were discussed. The 2-day meeting was well attended with 187 delegates.

Dr Anushya Vijanathan won the best oral paper award. Her paper was on “Uterine fibroid embolisation for symptomatic fibroids: The University Malaya Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia experience.”

A Pre-congress Quality Assurance Programme (QAP) In Mammography workshop was held on the 28-29 May 2009. This met with overwhelming response with 173 delegates, of which two thirds were radiographers and a small group was medical physicists. This workshop was targeted at those performing quality control on mammography, especially as some of them were new to digital mammography. Hands on sessions (for radiographers and medical physicists) were held in 3 hospitals, Selayang Hospital, Hospital Kuala Lumpur and University Malaya Medical Centre. Radiologists were also enlightened to the type of QAP needed in the digital age, and the session culminated in case studies. The Organising Chair for the workshop was Dr Siti Fathimah Abbas, and her team of lecturers and facilitators were responsible for this very successful workshop. The CoR thanks the radiographers and medical physicists who were integral in enabling the workshops. Dr Elizabeth Wylie from Breast Screen Western Australia and Jill Miller were our foreign experts whilst the local faculty were from various institutions in Malaysia.