Just 4 years back, the Asia Pacific League of Associations for Rheumatology (APLAR) picked Syria as the site of the 2012 APLAR Convention. This convention sees rheumatologists -clinicians, researchers and academics, from the region and the rest of the world come and sit around to discuss the future of rheumatology. It is held every 2 years. Hongkong hosted the 2010 meeting, which saw over 2000 delegates from all over the world. The Damascus meeting was much anticipated. There was a special value added to learning rheumatology in the "seat of civilization".
Then came the Arab spring. There was not the faintest hint to this phenomenon, the extent of the upheaval, the geographic and human toll, and the global economic repercussions it would bring on an already unsettled world. Syria joined the fray, and the APLAR sat and waited for the sand storm to settle. As the rest of the Arab world claps the dust off their backs and tries to stand and get back on track, this would not be in Syria. To date, the internal war rages on, causing literally, internal hemorrhage - as media would show it.
We are in prayer for our friends there, the doctors, the rest of the citizens of Syria, as they go through this painful process of change- prayer for end of conflict so its citizens will again live in peace. We in the rheumatology community feels a special tinge of sadness on what we are seeing in Syria. We continue to hope that in the years to come, we can still get that chance to sit on the "seat of civilization" and learn.
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