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International Thalassaemia Conference registration

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Eponine:
Hi Nur,

Hee... the sponsorship part you see on the website is for companies looking to sponsor the conference or parts of it.  :blush

Andy Battaglia:
Registration fees are quite high to the point of being prohibitive for many people. Why is the dinner so costly? $200 Singapore dollars is over $141 US dollars.  ??? The most expensive restaurant in town doesn't cost this much. With travel and hotels I estimate it will cost me about $3000 to come. Seems unlikely I will be there. Sorry.

Smurfette:
 :huh

$200 for a dinner...OMG I have never paid that much for a dinner...Even when the society has a dance on our tickets arent even that much...WOW

Andy I think thats how much its going to cost me to go too...And I am in australia which is closer to singapore...


OH WELL

Andy Battaglia:
After the Dubai conference, I am very wary of paying a lot for food since vegetarians are usually a second thought at best when planning a menu, even though there are many vegetarians among the attendees at thal conferences.

Ashish railed at the concept of charging patients registration fees and had planned on coming to Singapore without registering and not attending any talks but being at the conference center, nonetheless. TIF never listened to him but instead sent the Mumbai association a gigantic bill for membership. With Ashish now gone, much of my reason for going has vanished.

I am in a somewhat unique position being neither a patient nor a family member and not a medical professional. However, I have had more than one patient tell me I do more for thals than all of TIF combined. But I have no funding at all and every trip has been paid for out of my own pocket. Sponsorship by an org is unlikely as the patients come first, as they should. In the end, my desire to do what is right (Gandhi said “You must be the change you want to see in the world.” ) has to be tempered by what is financially viable for me. As much as I want to see a world where decisions are based on what should be and what is the right thing to do, regardless of one's own self-interest, I find what I can do is extremely limited by lack of funding. I have considered starting a foundation but time limitations make that unlikely, as between my store and the thal site, I spend over 100 hours working per week. If any lawyer wishes to donate time to help me set up a foundation, please speak up. Don't be shy now. hehe.

Smurfette:
Andy

I agree with you.... I have been to a few international conferences and as ashish did for one of the conferences I didnt pay for...but australia is registered with TIF...

But all the patients have to pay a registration fee too...not only the dinner...And I can tell you that the registration fee isnt cheap either...

When I went to Malta I had to pay nearly $500 AUD to register...plus that wasnt cheap...

Plus we paid for the dinner that we all went too....

Well to most of us Andy you have been more than a family member and you have helped some people in ways that doctors cant....

I consider you as part of my family   :hugfriend

And I hope that there is some way that you can attend the conference and I hope that I can attend and meet you in person  :biggrin :bighug

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