MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN SOCIETY OF CLINICAL AND
RADIATION ONCOLOGY
VENUE: CHAMPAGNE CONVENTION CENTRE
DATE 31 AUGUST 2013 16h15
1. OPENING AND WELCOME
Dr Samuel Fourie welcomed all the SASCRO members to the AGM.
2. ATTENDANCE, APOLOGIES AND PROXIES
No formal apologies were received.
All attendees signed the attendance register, and also signed for each proxy.
3. PREVIOUS MINUTES
This was available on the website for review before the meeting.
Dr R de Muelenaere proposed that we accept the minutes, and the motion was seconded by Prof
Abratt.
At this point dr Szpak commented that he requested another point to be added to the agenda for
the current meeting (“conflict of interest in SASCRO EXCO”). This point was added under ”GENERAL”.
4. REPORTS BY SUB-COMMITTEE REPRESENTATIVES
a) Academic departments (Dr M Botha)
There will from now on be only a single exit exam for all candidates in Radiation Oncology, since all
candidates will write the College Part II. Every institution can decide if they want to write the MMed
Primary or College Part I.
Since the previous AGM 3 new HOD’s were appointed



Prof V Sharma (WITS)
Prof B Jeremic (Stellenbosch)
Dr A Bester (Bloemfontein)
Department staffing
WITS
SPECIALISTS 9
REGISTRARS 17
PRETORIA
5
4
DURBAN
7
9
STELL
6
9
BLOEM
5
9
UCT
9
17
b) Private Practice (dr R de Muelenaere)
After the previous AGM dr. de Muelenaere resigned from the SAPPF (South African Private Practice
Forum) as instructed, and re-joined the SPPC (Specialists private practice committee) of SAMA.
A meeting of the SPPC on 5 August 2013 was cancelled because there was not a quorum present. He
describes this as a very dysfunctional committee.
Billing systems : Problems occurred with Discovery regarding application of codes. Hopefully this is
resolved after a meeting between them, dr. Fourie and dr. de Muelenaere.
We are also awaiting the Brachytherapy task team’s final report for feedback to Discovery.
5. FINANCIAL REPORT
Dr Samuel Fourie presented the financial report for the past two years. SASCRO remains in a healthy
financial position with the biggest contribution from the previous congress (R550 000) and
secondary to this, membership fees (R81000). A balance sheet of income and expenses was
presented. Almost R1 600 000 is kept in a Moneymarket account, with a smaller amount in a
Current account. The main Expense were sponsorships for Registrars who are SASCRO members to
attend Conferences, and also Travel expenses. The latter included Travel expenses for EXCO
members attending committee meetings, and also HOD’s attending exams without College
sponsorships.
There is still an outstanding issue with SASRS. As a sub-organization of SAMA, SASCRO used to be
exempt from paying tax, but due to the changing environment SASCRO had to register separately as
a society to retain this exemption. SASCRO was not aware of this, but is currently in the process of
registering with advice from a tax consultant. There will unfortunately be a penalty, but the
maximum amount would be R30 000.
Dr Szpak wanted to know who was responsible for this oversight, but at this stage we do not know.
6 CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
Dr Fourie thanked the committee for their support and hard work during the past 2 years.
Current membership of SASCRO:




Office:
Full time Hospital : 51
Full time Private : 107
RWOP
: 23
Registrars
: 68
For the past 2 and a half years part time staff were employed to assist with queries. They can be
reached at office@sascro.org
Website:
This is the main medium of communication and is regularly updated. Both the JCO and Red Journal
are available for members.
Meetings supported:
ASTRO 2012, ASCO CT 2014, PBTW (Paediatric brain tumour workshop)
Other societies:
There is increasing interaction with other societies, specifically the Urology society for writing of
Brachytherapy Guidelines.
There is also a proposal from Nuclear Medicine and SASGO for more cooperation.
Proposed HPCSA fee structure:
This is proposed by government for all of private medicine. SASCRO and SASMO made a joint
submission regarding this, and we are awaiting a response.
NCR (National Cancer Registry):
Members are reminded to start registering patients if they are not yet doing so.
SASCRO constitution:
Our constitution was last updated in 1995. It is important to update this in light of the changes in
SAMA (to which the society belong), as well as new SARS requirements. We will also have to update
the constitution to allow for electronic voting in line with other societies.
The SASCRO committee will drive this process, but ultimately the new constitution needs to be
approved by a two thirds majority of members. A draft constitution will be circulated to members
once the committee has updated it. SAMA has a pro forma constitution that can be used as basis
Dr Fourie relayed a request to allow for representation from all Academic centres on the committee,
that will probably be equalled in an increase in number of members from the private sector.
Dr Szpak request that the new constitution must have a section on conflicts of interest.
Dr Fourie ended of the Chairman’s report by stating it has been a pleasure to serve as chairman, and
he wished the new committee all the best.
7 ELECTION OF NEW COMMITTEE
Voting took place by secret ballot, and the following members were elected to the SASCRO
committee.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Dr S Fourie (as outgoing chairman)
Prof R Abratt
Prof A Jordaan
Dr M Botha
Dr M Heunis
Dr R de Muelenaere
Dr T Erasmus
Dr L Gouws
Dr G Hart
In light of a tie for the last place there will be one more member than during the previous cycle – this
was accepted by the majority of members by a show of hands.
8 GENERAL
a) Multi-disciplinary Teaching Course (Cape Town, April 2014)
Prof Abratt reminded all members of this meeting arranged by UCT
b) College of Radiation Oncologists
The HPCSA approved the College as the unitary exit exam for all specialists. Candidates must now
have proven competencies.
Prof Abratt was also involved in the Ministerial Committee for the prevention and treatment of
Cancer, and mentioned that the MRC (medical research council) recognized the need for clinical
input in research which will lead to more available funds for research in future.
c) Radiotherapy guidelines for IGRT
Dr Szpak noted that this needs to be updated.
Dr Fourie agreed that in light of new technologies including IMRT and IGRT, there will need to be
discussions with Medical Aids.
Dr Parks mentioned that this is not only a problem for the private sector since public facilities often
use advanced technology, like VMAT, to increase throughput, and not really for the sake of
technology. This could unfortunately reflect in the billing of patients with H2 and H3 registration.
d) Nomination of SAOC directors
The SASCRO committee received a letter from the SAOC (dr Szpak) informing us that there were 4
places available for SASCRO members on the SAOC board. Dr Fourie noted that the SAOC
shareholders agreement does not state that SASCRO must elect members for this board.
This e-mail was circulated to the committee, and the decision was made to discuss the matter at the
AGM today.
Dr Szpak responded that there existed a good mutual understanding between SASCRO and the SAOC
for the past 10years, and he did not receive a formal reply from SASCRO on his proposal.
Dr Fourie stated that the SAOC was a managed Healthcare Organization, and that election of
members for the board should be done at their AGM. This is now also important since there is more
than one managed healthcare organization.
Prof. Abratt proposed that we vote on the following motion: “ SASCRO must remain independent of
all managed health-care organizations”
This motion was accepted by the majority of attendees by a show of hands.
Dr Szpak also wanted an explanation on accreditation of units.
Dr Fourie explained that SASCRO previously outsourced this function to the SAOC, a managed
healthcare organization. There is now a second managed healthcare organization that applied for
the same privilege. The SASCRO committee reviewed the accreditation guidelines of ICON, and
approved it as an alternative to SAOC accreditation. Dr de Muelenaere added that the SAOC
currently only accredits chemotherapy facilities, and not radiation facilities.
e) Constitution of SASCRO and role of EXCO / conflicts of interest(added to the agenda at the
request of dr Szpak)
Dr Szpak felt that there were a lot of conflicts of interest in the SASCRO committee and presented a
slide show (available as addendum). Dr Fourie responded that all information in the slide show was
publically available.
Prof Abratt stated that in his opinion as a SASCRO committee member, all decisions were made in
the best interest of the society.
Because of a lack of time the meeting had to be adjourned after dr Fourie announced the newly
elected committee.