Sunday, 31 May 2020
Major Sponsor of the Royal Belgian Surgical Society : 
Major Sponsor of the Royal Belgian Surgical Society :
BSW 2020 & COVID-19
Update 26.04.2020, 11h00
Dear all,
All mathematical models, experts and projections for the near future tell us the same : the SARS-CoV-2 is here to stay, at least for months.
In fact, many experts even expect a new peak in the infections next fall.
We don’t know of course in which way this will affect our society, but in even in a best-case scenario a number of measures will very likely continue to apply , at least intermittently for months to come.
While November still seems far away, there is no way to guarantee that we will be able to gather then with hundreds of attendees, visit booths or have meaningful social interaction.
This is why we decided to postpone the "physical" BSW further to May 2021.
Of course, nothing is guaranteed for 2021 either. Maybe we will have to reinvent the whole concept of our yearly congress, “out of the box”…..but this way we are at least buying ourselves some time and by next year we will have a better idea about herd immunity and/or a possible vaccine.
As you can imagine, this decision was taken with a heavy heart, considering the energy a lot of people put in this project.
Thanks to all of you who helped to organize the BSW. It looked promising.
However, not to lose everything, we are considering the possibility to organize a “BSW light” in November 2020: a free paper session in order to give the opportunity to trainees to present their work, combined with the popular BGES-BAST-RBSS hands-on workshop for trainees, obviously with respect for the prevailing rules at that time, and probably with one session on COVID.
Format, date and venue are still to be discussed.
We’ll keep you posted.
Kind regards, stay healthy and take care,
For the RBSS board,
Charles de Gheldere
president RBSS
Read more ...
Dear all,
COVID-19 holds our whole world in a stranglehold.
Unlike other countries we were lucky to have the opportunity to brace before things got out of hand.
We still don’t know how hard the virus is going to hit us but at least most of our hospitals did their best to be prepared for the attack..
We are all set. Or not. Only time will tell.
With this post, we want to reach out to you and offer you some background information as well as practical tips from within the surgical community. Check this page regularly as it will be updated along with expanding global knowledge and experiences.
Read more ...On 10.04.2020, the RBSS and BGES sent out a press release to Belgian media on the noticed decrease of appendicitis since the outbreak of the COVID-19-pandemic and hence decrease in surgical management of this disease spectrum.
Read the NL press release here.
Read the FR press release here.
Following news articles were diffused based on the press release:
Following the success and the scope of the activities set up by the RBSS since 2018, the board decided to erect the Educational Committee.
Since 2018 and continued through 2019, RBSS organised the VATS tour, the Colorectal tour, two RBSS-meets-BAST-sessions. Moreover, as our society was asked to patronise the initiation and organisation of the Belgian 'edition' of the ATLS as the national surgical scientific organisation, it was decided to entrust these activities to an educational commitee created within the RBSS.
Read more ...