Dear Colleagues, Friends and Distinguished Guests,

On behalf of the Royal College of Surgeons of Thailand, it is my pleasure and honour to invite you to our 42^nd Annual Scientific Congress in conjunction with the 1st Joint Surgical Meeting with the Ministry of Public Health and the 1^st Mekong Basin (CLMVT) Surgical Forum to be held from 7-10 July 2017 in Pattaya, Thailand.

This year I am particularly pleased to welcome our friends from neighbouring CLMV countries. We are most grateful for their participation and contribution.

Under the theme "Acute Care Surgery: Safety and Efficiency", this joint Congress also introduces another dimension in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health with the aim to improve patient access to surgical care.

The Congress provides a unique opportunity for attendees to share scientific knowledge and learn the latest advancements in surgery, as well as to renew old friendships and make new ones. It features an interesting variety of symposia, lectures and paper presentations.

Finally, I would like to convey my sincere appreciation and heartfelt thanks to all invited guest speakers, both overseas and local, and also our distinguished Presidents and representatives from international colleges and societies who honour us with their presence. I am most grateful to the organising committee and staff. Without their hard work and dedication, the Congress would not be possible.

We hope to see you at the Congress and trust that you will also enjoy the pleasant climate and the many attractions of the beautiful Pattaya.


With best wishes,
General Parinya Thavichaigarn, MD, FRCST, FRCSEd

Dear Colleagues and Friends

It is our great pleasure to welcome you all to the 42^nd Annual Meeting of the Royal College of Surgeons of Thailand (RCST) in Pattaya, Jomtien Beach during July 7-10,2017.

The theme of this meeting is entitled "Acute Care Surgery: Safety and Efficiency".

Acute care surgery is one of the fundamental surgeries which all surgeons should perform with safety and efficiency to save life, prevent disability, and bringnormal activity back to patients suffering common and uncomplicated emergency surgical conditions. Unfortunately, this surgical service is not currently available enough throughout the whole country. Furthermore, the increased number of subspecialty surgical trainings with advanced technology in medical training centers limits the experience of acute care surgery with simple device and standard technique for their trainees. The awareness of availability and adequacy of acute care surgery with safety and efficiency countrywide is the major concern of the Royal College of Surgeons of Thailand.

In this congress, it isa great honor to set up the first joint meeting between the Ministry of Public Health and the Royal College of Surgeons of Thailandfollowing the Memorandum of Understanding signed last year. The invaluable information from this meeting would be the update of practice guidelines of acute care surgery for every emergency surgical condition, the application of new technologies in this essential surgical service, the initiation of the effective strategies for the improvement of training programs and the national policy of acute care surgery for all patients in our country.

We also welcome the first Mekong Basin Surgical Forum, the collaboration among the surgeons from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Thailand to contribute their experience of acute care surgery to this congress.

We are pleased to have your suggestions and participations for the most productive activities of this congress. Our communication will be effective through the RCST website www.rcst.or.th.

We are looking forward to welcoming you to our congress.

Pramook Mutirangura, MD, FRCST, FRCSEd
Chairman of the Organizing Committee