New Year greetings from Dr Vagish Singh, President, IMA Australia

It is my great pleasure to write to you the final report for the year 2020 and definitely welcome 2021. As we look back 2020 has been a tumultuous year for the profession, and the entire population and in particular our patients.

We have had good leadership in Australia that has allowed us to escape the ferocity of the COVID-19 pandemic that is still ravaging the Northern Hemisphere countries.

Our profession has made many and untold sacrifices with time, money and ultimately sometimes their lives. Professional safety has been an issue not just here, but around the world.

Our IMA in Australia has done an outstanding job together with various regional organizations in helping students and travellers of all nationalities. Our Virtual Clinics have been an absolute hit in furthering healthcare for the most needy in society. Our IMA members have also contributed to community meetings and written healthcare articles in their respective fields.

There is however hope on the horizon with four vaccines almost ready to be approved by February 2021, and two that have had emergency approval. The vaccination strategy for delivery is still in development. There are treatments with antivirals, monoclonal antibodies that have shown benefit in treating the SARS-COV-2 virus infection.

We still need to remain vigilant and rigorously practice social distancing and risk aversion. In Japan the call was to avoid the “three Cs”, closed spaces with poor ventilation, crowded places open to the public, and close contact settings. This has resulted in lifting of the state of emergency.

On another note, with travel not permitted, our profession has soldiered on holding virtual scientific and educational meetings worldwide with relative ease of participation and helping us keep up to date with all developments in all respective fields.

On a cardiac note, the success story has been of SGLT2 inhibitors with multiple trials showing benefit in heart failure, reducing hospitalizations, influencing morbidity and mortality, reducing the progression of chronic kidney disease irrespective of diabetic status, meaning non-diabetics benefit just as much.

Another interesting study was the SAMSON trial affirming the myopathic side-effects of statin therapy, but also confirming the nocebo effect of placebo.

I wish all of you the best for the festive season, to celebrate the simple things in life, and substantially better and thriving New Year.

Dr Vagish Singh

President Indian Medical Association of Australia (Queensland)