Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
I would like to congratulate you on the birth of our Lord.
I hope you are all safe and healthy in this corona pandemic.
This year was a special year for the Asian Federation of Catholic Medical Associations (AFCMA). The 17th AFCMA Congress 2021 was successfully organized as a virtual congress by the Catholic Doctors Association of Malaysia from 16th to 19th September 2021. The theme of the congress was "Building Bridges through Healing and Spirituality". During the meeting, there were various kinds of reports on the daily medical services that everyone was invited to do, especially by those who were poor and small in a corner of the neighborhood. As Pope Francis preached at the Easter Vigil, "Let us go to Galilee" (Mark 16:07), I was reminded that it was on the frontier that Jesus invited his disciples to go on mission.
The achievement of the health care where no one is left behind is now a common global understanding, with Universal Health Coverage (UHC) as a target in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but it is still a challenge. Particularly, in such a diverse region as Asia, it will be difficult to achieve the UHC even in each country. In Asia, where the teachings of Christ have not widely penetrated, what we need to do is to transform the world through solidarity by faith. I believe this is the most necessary thing to do, especially in societies where the poor and the small are suffering terribly from the COVID-19 pandemic. Let us pray and go for our own mission.
I wish you all a very happy Christmas and a new year full of hope.
May God continue to bless you abundantly.
December 24, 2021
Shigeyuki Kano, MD & PhD
President, AFCMA
Board Member of Japanese Catholic Medical Association (JCMA)
No comments:
Post a Comment