Declan Costello,
MA, MBBS, FRCS(ORL-HNS),
Editor, ENT & Audiology News;
Consultant Ear, Nose and Throat Surgeon,
Wexham Park Hospital,
Slough, Berkshire, UK.
The horrifying situation in Ukraine has drawn international condemnation of the Russian government; as a consequence, many medical organisations have cut ties with Russia. Within the specialty of ENT, numerous bodies, including IFOS, ESPO, CEORL-HNS, ELS and EAONO, have stood up for Ukraine. We give an overview of how international ENT organisations have responded here. These organisations recognise that the doctors themselves are not responsible for their government’s actions, and the decisions to cut ties with Russian organisations are clearly very difficult; but the ESPO statement summarises the invidious position well: “While we do not hold our Russian members accountable for the atrocities in Ukraine, regrettably a country’s governmental decisions spill over to its nationals.”
We have received the tragic news that Prof Pavlo Vinnychuk, a senior paediatric ENT surgeon in Kyiv, has been killed in Ukraine. He was a leading researcher in the department of paediatric ENT pathology at the Institute of Otolaryngology of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine. We have also just received news of the deaths of two other ENT surgeons in Ukraine, but we have no further details at this point. We send our condolences to their families and friends. Every death in this conflict is a tragedy, but the loss of several of our colleagues really makes this war feel very close to home.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, anxiety seems (even more than usual) to be a perpetual state of mind for many people at the moment. So it is apposite that in these troubled times, our ENT Features discuss the topic of ‘wellbeing’. Click here to read my introduction to the articles.
And in our Audiology Features section, Alex Griffiths-Brown presents a group of articles discussing the topic of ‘autism’, and how audiological practitioners can optimise their interactions with patients with autism and improve their diagnosis and treatment.
In other news, we bring you an update on the rearranged IFOS meeting; this will now be taking place in January 2023 in Dubai. I caught up with the President of IFOS 2023, Dr Hussain Abdul Rahman Al Rand. You can watch my video conversation with him here. This promises to be a very engaging meeting.
And finally, many loyal readers will be aware that every year we publish a useful Product Guide. As you will see, it features state-of-the art products of interest to ENT surgeons and audiologists.
