ABOUT THE AHDMA

Leading up to 2005 there was a lot of interest in hyperbaric medicine throughout Asia, which created a wave of excitement to open new hyperbaric centres. At the time, it was believed that many of these facilities had no code of practice, accepted indications lists, background medical or technical training. It was thought that if left to continue on that trajectory, there could be a number of avoidable accidents within the facilities and/or that the benefits of the hyperbaric and diving medicine may not follow best practice.

The USA has the UHMS and Europe has EUBS but there was no one organisation that had as its sole purpose the promotion of evidence based medical knowledge, technical excellence and hyperbaric safety for the Asian region.

To address the void, the Asia Hyperbaric and Diving Medical Association (AHDMA ) was founded by Dr. Tony Lee, Bob Ramsay, Dr. Michael Perez, Dr. Janet Perez, Tim Snowden, Dr. Edwin Low, Dr. Halim Mohamed, Dr. Andrew Ng, Dr. Loh Sheau Torng, Dr. Victor Hoe and Dr. Tarun Sahnii with the intention of developing; an accepted indications list, the routine dissemination of knowledge and experiences, creating an environment where and relationships can be developed and explored.

The AHDMA is committed to continue its mission to provide hyperbaric and diving medicine specific information and education on evidence based hyperbaric and diving medicine, hold an annual scientific meeting, educate doctors, nurses and technical people in many different countries in the Asia region.

Each year since the inaugural Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2005 the AHDMA has endeavoured to move the ASM around the Asia region, including; Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, Thailand and the Philippines.