The invitation to Stepan Firstov, chairman of the Self-Regulated Organisation Association of Traumatologists and Orthopedists of Chelyabinsk region, to take part in General Assembly as WMA Associate Member was made by Otmar Kloiber, WMA General Secretary, and Tai-Yuan, president of the Taiwan Medical Association.

By the way, for Stepan Firstov Taipei turned to be the third city hosting the WMA General Assembly. In 2014 a doctor from Chelyabinsk for the first time visited the 65th World Medical Parliament in Durban, the Republic of South Africa, and in 2015 in the russian delegation he was at the 66th WMA General Assembly.

It is noticeable, that in 2015 the 66th WMA General Assembly was in Moscow. Earlier than this event, Russia was included in the World Medical Association on special terms and after many years of negotiations in 2002. The fact is, that unlike physicians in many other member countries, physicians in Russia are not subjects of law. And this condition for the World Medical Association is the most important and fundamental. Nevertheless, Russia represented by the All-Russian Public Organization named Russian Medical Community was accepted as a member.

Since the WMA was founded in 1947, several fundamental for the whole world of the medical community declarations were adopted.

There are among them:

— Declaration of Geneva (WMA 1948);

— Declaration of Helsinki on ethical principles for medical research involving human participation (1964);

— WMA Lisbon Declaration on patient rights (1981);

— Declaration of Brussel on the human rights and the freedom of the practitioners (1985);

— Declaration of California on the independence and professional freedom of the physicians (1986);

— Declaration of Madrid on professional autonomy and Self-Regulation of physicians (1987).

For reference:

The WMA is a non-governmental international organization. Its members are national medical communities and associations of different countries. The WMA represents interests of more than 10 million doctors from 115 world countries. The participation of the country's medical community in the activity of this organization is inextricably linked to the legal personality of the doctor and developed system of professional medical associations.

In January 2014, the WMA and other global medical organizations agreed to cooperate in the field of medical ethics. The provisions of the partnership program were taken from the codes of each organization. The agreement is based on the promotion of the idea of transparency and predictability of medical practice, on work in accordance with the accepted principles of medical ethics, on support for research and innovations in the field of medical ethics and the priority of the patients' interests.

In the modern world, the international policy of the World Medical Association is also directed against terrorist organizations. In particular, in 2015, the WMA demanded that the United Nations Organization officially investigate cases of human organ trafficking in Iran and Syria, which is under the control of the terrorist organization ISIS (so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant).