For 2010-2014 the Board members are:

Chair: Robert McDougall (Australia)

Vice-Chair:Chan
Yew Weng (Singapore)

Secretary:
Lize Xiong (PRC)

Treasurer:
Eiichi Inada (Japan)

Board Members: Lutful Aziz (Bangladesh), Wayne Morriss (New Zealand),
Susilo Chandra (Indonesia)

Co-opted Florian Nuevo (Philippines), Neil McLennan (New Zealand)

The last face to face meeting was in June 2010 at the AACA in Fukuoka,
Japan. Members of the Board have met at both the ACA in Manila and SAARC in Bangalore
in 2011. Regular email contact has been maintained.

Lifebox

 In 2010 at the 13^th AACA in Fukuoka, Japan, the AARS resolved
to take responsibility for the introduction of the Global Oximetry Project to
the Asian Australasian region. Distribution of oximeters through Lifebox, the
charitable organisation established to run the project is now underway and
oximeters have been delivered to many countries in our region. Recently, both
Tonga and the Solomon Islands accepted delivery of enough oximeters to ensure
that every operating room and recovery now have appropriate numbers of
oximeters. These oximeters were donated by anaesthesiologists from the AARS
region. Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Samoa have orders in place and a significant
donation from members of the New Zealand Society of Anaesthetists will ensure
that a province in central Vietnam will have reliable oximetry for the first
time

AARS member societies such as the Indonesian Society of
Anaesthesiologists are working hard with their governments to include oximetry
in the adaptation of the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist.

The AARS Board welcomes enquiries about Global Oximetry and Lifebox.
Please refer to www.lifebox.org for more information

World Congress of Anaesthesiology

The 15^th WCA takes place in Buenos Aires from March 25th-30th
2012. The AARS has been allocated a scientific session on Monday 26^th
March 15:30-17:30 in Room 10. The following topics will be presented:

• Obstetric Anaesthesia Education. Chandra, Susilo
  (Indonesia)
• Essential Pain Management Programme. Goucke, Roger
  (Australia)
• Challenges in Anaesthesia in South East Asia. Aziz, Lutful
  (Bangladesh)
• Regional Anaesthesia:
  the experience in China. Xiong, Lize (China)

We hope to see as
many AARS representatives as possible at the WCA and particularly at the AARS
session.

14^th
AACA in Auckland New Zealand 2014

 Our next AACA will be held in Auckland from 21-25^th February
2014. Auckland is a beautiful harbour city, February brings great weather and
the NZSA guarantees a stimulating program. No better excuse should be needed to
visit New Zealand so plan for this meeting now!

SAARC National Societies and AARS

At the SAARC meeting in Bangalore in August 2011 the SAARC Association
of Anaesthesiologists indicated that they would prefer to form a new regional
section and separate from the AARS. Extensive meetings were held with SAARC AA
officials and Angela Enright (WFSA President), David Wilkinson (WFSA Secretary)
and Florian Nuevo (Chair, WFSA Exec Committee). I was present at these meetings
as was Wayne Morriss.

The AARS Board has advised the SAARC AA that a decision to withdraw must
come from the national societies of each of the regional countries rather than
SAARC AA. The Board supports such discussions and sees the benefits of a new
regional section. As of January 2012 no further communication on the matter has
been received.

Rob McDougall

Chair AARS