The Balkan Medical Union (BMU)
The Balkan Medical Union is a nongovernmental organisation founded in Bucharest on the 24th of October 1932, and has the following aims:
- To study the Balkan’s region specific disorders and the most appropriate curative and prophylactic attitude; to provide assistance in the promotion and achievement of the best measures that ensure the highest level of health in this geographic area.
- Networking and acknowledgement of the scientific activity, as well as keeping its members in contact and in a friendly relationship.
- To cultivate a medical humanist and humanitarian awareness among its members.
The means of action of the Balkan Medical Union are by organising:
- every two years: the Balkan Medical Weeks
- every two years: the Balkan Medical Days, alternating with the Medical Weeks mentioned above
- International Advanced Courses, Specialty Meetings, Scientific Research, etc.
- every three years: the Congress of the Mediterranean Medical Entente (MME), in collaboration with the Latin Mediterranean Medical Union (LMMU) and the Arab Medical Union (AMU).
Members
The members of the Balkan Medical Union are doctors or other professionals (pharmacists, chemists, biologists, psychologists, biophysicists, etc.), working in health institutions of Albania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Turkey. All members of a country are organised in a National Section with a Committee elected every four years by a General Assembly.
The associate members of the Balkan Medical Union are non-Balkan countries doctors or other specialists as well as institutions that are interested and wanting to participate in the activities of the union.
Publications
The diverse scientific activity of the Balkan Medical Union has been reflected in the International Journal "Archives of the Balkan Medical Union", which has been appearing in a new series since 1997.
The new direction of the Editorial Staff is launching a new form of the Journal, which aim is to be rich in scientific work and to reflect the particularities of the medical conditions of this geographical area. Moreover, this is meant to be a source of genuine scientific medical papers from all the specialties of the modern medicine.
Since 2003 the journal’s entry has been accepted in Excerpta Medica and Chemical Abstracts databases.
The responsible for the publication of the Journal is the General Secretariat of the BMU with headquarters in Bucharest, Romania.
Collaborations
Direct cooperation with other international organisations: the Latin Mediterranean Medical Union, the Arab Medical Union. These 3 unions altogether form the Mediterranean Medical Entente .A longlasting traditional collaboration with the Academy of Medicine, France.
The collaboration with these international organisations was put into practice by the Congress and the reciprocal invitation of scientific personalities
Another form of collaboration is the exchange between the journal "Archives of BMU” and international medical publications .
The founder and initiator of all activities and collaborations of the BMU was Prof. M. Popescu Buzeu, International Secretary General until 1988 and honorary president of the BMU until his death on 26 December 1991.
He dedicated his life to the development of the Balkan Medical Union and put all his efforts in giving it an international position. He promoted the health of Balkan countries people, the friendship among health professionals and the consolidation of the peace.
The motto Health –Friendship- Peace summarises the goals of the Balkan Medical Union.
Functioning and Administration
The responsible for the good functioning and the administration of the BMU are: the General Council, the Presidency and the General Secretariat.
- The General Council is the governing body of the Balkan Medical Union and is formed of 2-3 delegates from each National Section. It meets in regular sessions each year. Each Section will have one vote in the General Council.
- The Presidency ensures the continuity and permanence of the activity of the organisation in collaboration and with the assistance of the General Secretariat. The President of the National Section of the country where the Balkan Medical Week will take place automatically becomes the President of the Balkan Medical Union for a period of 2 years.
- The General Secretariat ensures the preparation and implementation of General Council’s decisions. It takes care of the correspondence, publications and archives of the Balkan Medical Union. The organisation is represented in front of the law and in civil actions by the Secretary general who is elected by the General Council for a period of 4 years. According to the by-laws of the BMU, the Secretary General may not exercise his/her power for a period of more than two consecutive mandates and should be always from Romania.