The 220th Council Session of the World Medical Association scheduled for 7-9 April 2022 has been completed quite successfully. All members of the WMA Council — representatives of both European as well as Asian countries — joined the event, particularly 28 representatives, members of committees, representatives of Junior Doctors network and Assocaite Members, whose membership includes Stepan Firstov.
Traditionally, the session was opened by the Council Chair, dr. Frank Ulrich Montgomery and Secretary General, dr. Otmar Kloiber. Greetings of participants and detailed explanation of some technical moments were followed by the words of the WMA President, dr. Heidi Stensmyren. The WMA President highlighted reduction of harmful pandemic effect, the need for fruitful cooperation for the Healthcare system benefit as well as the WMA impact not only in the vaccination programs, but to fight against chronic diseases. This was followed by the meeting of the Socio-Medical Affairs Committee. Current issues for discussions turned to be the spread of various diseases, telemedicine, tobacco harmful effect, patient safety, discrimination, equal vaccine distribution, genocide against native people Uyghurs.
8 April held meeting of Finance and Planning Committee members. After welcoming speech the WMA Secretariat thanked the Chineese Medical Association for its range of support. Noted, that the amount of membership dues has not been changed during 2020-2021, despite the unstable global economic situation. The main expenses were traced to the Council Sessions, General Assembly, taxation system of the organization and other administrative costs. The participants chose the venue for the General Assembly 2026 — the Netherlands. Chairman of the Junior Doctors, dr. Ramin Parsa-Parsi kindly invited to join the GA 2022 in Berlin. The topic of the Scientific Session was chosen and dedicated to medical ethics. The report of the interim chairperson of the Associate Members, dr. Anthea Mowat was heard. Currently, the WMA counts 1682 Associate Members from all about the world. The second day of the WMA CS in Paris was devoted to discussions on LGBTQ equity in venues hosting WMA meetings and safety of environment.
9 April took place for discussions on the current issues of the Medical Ethics Committee. The most lively exchange of views followed the issues of reproductive technologies, interaction with mass media, violence against medical personnel as well as doctors providing medical care to relatives and friends. It was decided to distribute guidelines and conduct propaganda on the safety and necessity of vaccination.
The 220th meeting of the WMA CS ended with a closing ceremony and an invitation to continue discussions on some issues in an informal settings.