2023 A.G.M.

General Assembly Meeting during EHS Congress in Bern, Switzerland

Date: Thursday 12th October 2023

Time: 18:20-19:20 CET

Place: Kursaal (congress venue)

	*Agenda Issue*	Min
1	Approval of the Agenda (SB)	1
2	Approval of Minutes of GA at EFORT in Lisbon 2022 (SB)	1
3	Report of the President:15^th Congress 2023 (Bern)	4
4	Report of the President Elect: 16^th Congress 2025 (Thessaloniki, Greece)	5
5	Report of the Treasurer: Financial Report 8.2021-8.2023	5
6	Approval of Financial Reports 2021-23	5
7	Report of the Secretary General (SB)	5
8	Report on EHS Webinars (JAE)	5
9	Report of Chairman of the EduCom: Handover of Chairman & Vice Chairman positions	5
10	Report of Chairman of the SciCom (LZ)	5
11	In Memory of EHS Past President: EHS President 2000-2002 Dr Roberto Giacometti (Italy)	5
12	Election of Treasurer 2023-7: Approval of Prof Martin Thaler	5
13	Election of President 2025-7: Approval of Prof Fares Haddad	8
14	Miscellaneous	1

Minutes

1. Approval of the Agenda

Approved with a raise of hands.

2. Approval of Minutes of GA @ EFORT in Lisbon 2022

Approved with a raise of hands.

3. Report of the President, Klaus Siebenrock: 15th Congress Bern 2023

Welcome to sunny Bern! Thanks all for coming.

4. Report of the President Elect, Eleftherios Tsiridis: 16th Congress Thessaloniki 2025

Please visit our bespoke webpage HERE for information on our next congress in Greece.

5. Financial Report 8.2021-8.2023 of EHS Treasurer, Martin Thaler

PK-A [Denmark]: What is ExCom’s expectation? What to do for the future? It doesn’t make sense to have this money in the bank.

MT: We discussed it intensely & I agree we have a huge amount of money – thanks to the previous presidents. We have it for security. Lille [EHS 14th Congress 2021] was a great job and we didn’t have to pay, but it was to protect the presidents in case we get no industry support.

We should ask how to invest that money to bring our society’s growth.

KS: We can talk about this at end of 2026 when we get the €250k back. Let’s see what this congress will cost.

AMT [SciCom & Past President]: It’s a huge stress to organise the meetings & the biggest fear is if the meeting will be a success. We need something safe to finance a congress in case of failure or pandemic. Maybe we should add €100k to the €250k in 2026.

MT: We avoid penalties with this special bank account.

LZ [SciCom Chair & Past President]: First thing: the President must be safe in case of failure (bankrupt / earthquake / cancelled). The total is less than 3yrs ago. It is decreasing. All the societies are having huge financial problems. We are relaxed and safe.

If we see an immediate reason to spend, the ExCom will decide. But until then, why spend money? In Austria we have the penalty and inflation. Solution for 0.5 penalty? It makes no sense. Put more in an investment and keep less than €100k for expenses.

MT: That would be money laundering! Easy to say move the money. We pay no tax in Austria. I studied economics, as you know. I did want to put more, but with the ExCom we discussed it & this was the decision.

KS: This is an ExCom discussion. It’s too difficult a Q and we could discuss for hours here. It’s the ExCom’s job. We find a consensus & then present it to the GA.

SV [Nat Rep for Netherlands]: How much do we need if there’s a failure? Also we need to get more members. This is a way we make money. And we need more young members. I propose: Give a free membership for residents! Great way to attract more members. And offer them cheaper meeting registration fee too.

ET: Let’s say a complete failure. This congress cost €300k. Plus we have our secretary & expenses. We cannot get this money until 2026 anyway. It is our security bet for the running expenses.

Good to think about increasing our membership to senior residents.

WS [Past President, Netherlands]: We could think about having an annual meeting, as a lot of other societies are having big problems.

MT: We could raise our membership fee. €150 is not that much. Also we pay a lot to SAGE. We decided to stop giving print magazine & will renegotiate the contract with SAGE. Today everyone goes online & there’s no need to keep sending the print option.

KS: I agree. Also young residents for free is a good idea. Attract young surgeons who will become members. Do we need to raise our membership fee now?

MT: We don’t want to lose members by raising the fee.

KS: Some members do not pay fees. Now, after 4yrs, they will be out.
I’d leave it at €150 at the moment.
As for annual congress, I don’t think so.

JCA [Nat Rep for Spain]: You’re giving ideas for increasing our money. But the problem is we have too much money! This is a non-profit society. You must pay taxes if you make money! EHS cannot have profit or it will have taxes. We should maintain or decrease our money! We should not increase membership for this reason. Not to increase money – any tax department of any European government will tax us – we’ll have problems in the future! National Health organisations can look in our account if there is a crisis and it is dangerous to have a lot of money in our bank!

MT: Below half a million is allowed. But authorities can change at any moment.

Summary: We are ok at the moment.

6. Approval of Financial Report 01.8.2021-30.08.2023

Approved by our two auditors 2021-23: Prof Atilla and Prof Ilchmann.

Going forwards, Prof Atilla stands down and our new auditor is Prof Jose Cordero-Ampuero.

Prof Ilchmann remains.

Thanks to all for their hard work.

Approved with show of hands.

7. Report of Secretary General, Stanislav Bondarenko

8. Report of EHS Webinars

JAE [Past President, France]: We have run the EHS Webinars for a year now. They are free to attend and the free replay is available from our website. The structure in 2023 (in collaboration with MO Journals) was:-

8 p/a, 60-mins
Tuesdays 19:30-21:30 CET
3 speakers, 1 chairman + 2 moderators
audience participates via chat at the end for a lengthy discussion

Audience: 80% Europe / 20% outside

50% senior surgeons / 50% junior, assistants, PhD students

Live stream big fans: Italy, Ukraine, Portugal.

Replay big fans: East of Europe, Ukraine, UK, Slovenia

713 live + 230 replays = 943 attendees. So roughly 150 delegates per webinar.

Now I will step down and Oliver Marin-Pena [SciCom] will take over for 2024.

OMP: Huge work, I know that. I will try my best and work to improve – we will do fewer webinars next year.

LZ: I want to personally congratulate Jean-Alain Epinette, because he had the very clever idea to use presentations already ready.

I don’t know why Italy is in the top, but Filippo Randelli [SciCom] approached SIOT and they advertised it for us, so we should all do that.

MT: We had not one single view from Germany. Nat Rep is not here… but we need to do something about that!

9. Report of Chairman of the EduCom: Handover of Chairman & Vice Chairman positions

GU [Chairman of EduCom, Past President, Sweden]: Thanks to all the EHS Fellowship hosts! They did a really great job. We have fruitful and important cooperation with EFORT. We sent speakers to 12 congresses internationally [in the past year] and those speakers promote EHS to get new members.

We also send emails to National orthopaedic societies every year, letting them know we send speakers free or charge.

Time for me to handover.

I joined EHS @ Helsinki 1996. Our society has developed tremendously. We are developing more towards young surgeons.

I hand over to Bulent Atilla. It has been an honour & pleasure to serve in EHS.

10. Report of Chairman of the SciCom

LZ: Thanks to all the SciCom for creating all together the scientific programme and for reviewing the abstracts. Also many thanks o the president.

KS: Huge thanks to the SciCom.

11. In Memory of EHS Past President

EHS President 2000-2002 Dr Roberto Giacometti (Italy)

LZ: Our dearest Roberto Giacometti (EHS President 2000-2002) passed away 29th March 2023.

As a very young surgeon, he was one of the founders of the Galeazzi Orthopaedic Institute in the mid-1960s and became soon a point of reference for hip surgery, which he practiced with great technical skills and scientific expertise in both prosthetic and conservative surgery.

Collaborating with Italian and foreign colleagues and technicians and with first-rate national and international companies, thanks to a perfect mix of knowledge and geniality, he conceived and developed implant models, some of which later became international standards: innovative acetabular cups such as the “Polar” cup in the 1980s, the ET stem of the Versys System in the 1990s, the 36mm ceramic-ceramic coupling in the year 2000. And not only hip replacements: among the first in Italy, he performed periacetabular osteotomies, open reduction of SCFE according to Dunn.

An openness and a tendency to new goals that, together with the acknowledged international consideration, led him to hold prestigious positions, from the Presidency of our EHS in 2000, to that of the Italian Hip Society, from the Board of EFORT to being one of the Italian members of the International Hip Society, from scientific assignments in national and international registries committees to those in SIOT. He presented at major scientific congresses, forging friendship and relationships with the most important institutes and colleagues who still greet him with affection. With a gift that is hard to find in our world nowadays: the art of leaving at the right time. In 2011 he gradually retired until he stopped working completely.

But what we remember him most for are his paternal availability to discuss the most complex cases, the wise indications, the caution of choices. Of him will always remain vivid in our memory the intellectual honesty and readiness of arguments, the availability to be questioned and the subtle irony, the noble loyalty of spirit and generosity.

Thank you, Roberto!

He was a genius. My mentor. An honest man, critical.

12. Election of Treasurer 2023-7

Approval of sole candidate: Prof Martin Thaler (2nd term as Treasurer).

Approved with show of hands.

MT: It’s a privilege to be debating what to do with the money! As there’s no other applicant, I am willing to continue.

13. Election of President 2025-7

Approval of sole candidate: Prof Fares Haddad.

Approved with show of hands.

FH: I’ve been an EHS member since I was a junior registrar and have attended all the meetings. I’ve been Nat Rep for a few years.

Thanks to you all. It will be a genuine privilege.

My goals are simple, and nowhere near as prolific as ET’s.

I’ve done this before in many societies.

Webinars are a huge opportunity- huge potential to go much bigger.

I call on each and everyone of you to contact me and let me know what the direction of travel should be, so it is your society, so find me please and let me know. It’s very easy to get in touch with me.

It takes four years to get anything through the ExCom, so I want to know what EHS does and where it’s going.

The American Hip Society has never been outside US yet, but there’s an opportunity to potentially collaborate with them – also the International Hip Society, potentially.

I hope it will be a fruitful few years for the EHS.

Thanks to you KS. Really strong formidable leader for EHS. Fantastic congress.