Dear members,

On behalf of the trustees; I am pleased to inform you that your society has been registered as a charity. You can access the details from the Charity Commission for England and Wales under the name Egyptian Medical Society (UK). You will see the importance of being a registered charity. In addition to all the benefits; I want to stress two important points;

· We are allowed to provide direct aid and support in the medical field to Egypt, so we can buy and donate equipment to Egyptian hospitals and other medical institutions free of VAT payment both on equipment and cost of transport.

· We can claim back 22% on all donations e.g. we’ve raised this year £100,000 so we can claim back £22,000 from HMT. Also the donor can claim back up to 18% tax relief on his/her donation.

I am very grateful to you for your support during the period of hard work to achieve these magnificent changes in the status of the society. I am also indebted to all the trustees for their tireless efforts and hard work to make the change possible.

May I also take this opportunity to inform you of what we have been doing on you behalf this year;

1. We have started sending doctors to hospitals in Egypt, outside of Cairo to operate and teach the local doctors. We have had some teething problems in that respect, but we are aiming to iron them out in future visits.

2. We have set up management training and quality control systems to certain NGOs in healthcare fields.

3. We have donated funds to the Children Cancer hospital in Egypt, direct to named patient treatment.

4. We are supporting Professor Sir Magdy Yacoub in his great efforts to set up a centre of excellence in Aswan for children with major heart disease.

5. Also, we are trying to find ways to help and support the UK members, especially the younger generation. So, if you have any views or ideas, I will be grateful if you could send them to Hesham or to me.

Kind regards

Magdy Ishak