WELCOME TO WARSAW

It is a great honour for the Polish Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery to welcome delegates to the 17th ESCRS Winter Meeting in the Warsaw International Expo XXI. Every year, this meeting is a major focus for ophthalmologists and I believe this year’s programme will have something for everyone. The meeting opens on Friday 15 February with the Annual Cornea Day organised by ESCRS and EuCornea. Cornea Day will be chaired by the EuCornea president Dr Jose Guell with expert keynote lectures and case presentations on a number of topics. These include management of corneal complications, corneal graft surgery and ocular surface disease. On Friday we will also hold didactic courses in cataract surgery and refractive surgery as well as a basic optics course and a surgical skills training course.

On a personal note, I am particularly looking forward to Friday’s symposium on Cataract With Other Disorders: Combined Or Sequential Surgery? Friday’s programme also sees a new and exciting feature, the Young Ophthalmologists’ Programme. “Learning From the Learners†is an interactive session on cataract training for trainees and will include video cases presented by young ophthalmologists. The programme continues on Saturday with our second training course on surgical skills and a cornea didactic course. We also have symposia on Measuring Success in Cataract Surgery and Strategies for Treating Keratoconus and Live Surgery, organised by the Polish Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery which will be transmitted from the Department of Ophthalmology, Medical University of Warsaw.

The meeting concludes on Sunday with a symposium on Capsular Complications, our final surgical skills training course and a symposium presented by the Polish Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery. We have experienced many changes in Poland but one thing that has not changed is the excellent practice of ophthalmology in our country. Many famous ophthalmologists have come from our country including Wiktor Szokalski (1811-1891), Ksawery GaÅ‚ezowski (1832–1907), Michal Borysiekiewicz (1848- 1899), Wincenty Fukala (1847-1911), BolesÅ‚aw Wicherkiewicz (1847–1915) and Tadeusz Krwawicz (1910-1988). I would like to announce that my colleague Andrzej Grzybowski has written an article on “Polish Contributions to International Ophthalmologyâ€. This article is being published in ET Today; the daily newspaper produced by EuroTimes, the official news magazine of the ESCRS, and will be distributed to delegates on Saturday 16 February.

Let me conclude by saying a few words about Warsaw, the venue for this meeting. The beginnings of Warsaw go as far back as the 12th and 13th centuries. The city had to be completely rebuilt after the near-total destruction of it during World War II. The symbol of the capital’s rebirth was an unprecedented post-war re-creation of the Old Town, which in 1980 was put on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites, as an example of a nearly complete reconstruction of the original settlement using original town plans and architecture. We are very proud of our city and we hope that you will get a chance to visit some of the main attractions including the magnificent Royal Palace, the National Museum, the Copernicus Science Centre, the Neon Museum and the Lazienki Gardens. In conclusion, I hope that you enjoy our meeting and I look forward to meeting you.