G. Naheed Usmani, MD
President APPNA 2020

Dear APPNA Members,

Assalmu Alaikum.

The year 2020 is almost over, full of momentous changes in our lives. APPNA held a Zoom Council meeting on October 10th from 3 to 6PM Eastern time in lieu of our Fall Meeting. I thank all the Council members and general membership who attended the meeting. I personally have found the zoom meetings very productive and collaborative with full engagement of all attendees.

I would once again like to congratulate Dr. Haroon Durrani, Dr. Arshad Rehan and Dr. Humera Qamar for winning the APPNA elections for President Elect, Secretary and Treasurer 2021, respectively. Now we are in the middle of US national elections for US President, Senators and Representatives. Please vote and encourage your family and community to vote as well.

The APPNA Council voted to extricate APPNA from intervenors complaint in the Bari lawsuit. The Council also voted to discontinue the special Forensic audit that was approved by the APPNA Council 2019, as the 2018 forensic audit did not show any misappropriation or wrongdoing. APPNA auditors will continue to conduct the annual audit of APPNA’s finances as has always been done.

We have a very productive weekend ahead with a Social Forum on Saturday October 24th at 1pm EST on Harassment of APPNA Physicians on Social Media. On Sunday October 25th at 12pm EST a community webinar will be held with Governor of Pakistan State Bank and other bank officials on the Roshan Digital Accounts: a new offering of digital banking for overseas Pakistanis.

APPNA MERIT is also holding a webinar on launching its Emergency Medicine Initiative with international partners on Sunday October 25th at 9am EST. Besides these APPNA webinars, KEMCAANA is holding a zoom general body meeting on Saturday October 24th at 12 noon; APPNA Pediatrics is holding its general body meeting on Sunday October 25 at 11am EST.

APPNA is still planning to go ahead with a small Winter meeting in Lahore at KEMU. There will be a session at Lahore Children’s’ Hospital on December 23 and CME sessions on December 24 and 26 and an APPNA MERIT session on December 26th. I hope some of you will be able to join us in person but all these will be available on live telecast.

I continue to pray for everyone’s safety and health. Today I learnt something new from an infectious disease specialist in our grand rounds. Wearing masks not only protects people around you from Covid19, but it also modulates the disease if you contract it. It is a much milder disease as the dose of the inoculum is low. So please continue to practice social distancing and wearing personal protective equipment. We have to learn how to live with this virus in the long run!

Naheed Usmani, MD
President APPNA 2020