HKMA – Hong Kong Medical Association Orchestra
Category : OrchestraDocs
The medical professionals show their concern to the public not only within but also outside their clinics and hospital wards. A group of doctors devoted to both medicine and music decide to play on stage with their strings and bows to bring joy to patients in hospitals and to raise money for those in need.
With this sacred mission, the Hong Kong Medical Association Orchestra was born in March 1989 with the objectives of cultivating good public relations by visiting homes for the aged, centres for the disabled and orphanage, etc.; to raise funds for various charitable organizations; and to recruit talented doctors and create a forum for their mutual enjoyment.
Since its inception, the Orchestra has actively participated in many charity and community affairs. Every year, a Charity Concert has been held and more than HK$5 million has been raised over the past 13 years for organizations including Society for the Promotion of Hospice Care, Hong Kong Anti-Cancer Society, Hong Kong AIDS Foundation, Hong Kong Society for the Deaf, HKMA Organ Donation Register Fund Ltd. the Hong Kong Workers Welfare Association, Hong Kong Donno Syndrome Association and Hong Kong Museum of Medical Science.
Other activities most cherished by the Orchestra members are their yearly visits at Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve to various hospitals to play for the inpatients during these festive seasons. The Orchestra has also been playing at St. John’s Cathedral for the Family Christmas concert for the past four years. Furthermore, the Orchestra has given Easter Concert at the Chapel of Christ the King, St. Paul Convent.
Although most of the Orchestra members are doctors and their immediate relatives, other professionals are welcome. There are engineers, lawyers, architects, nurses, dentists, accountants and a vet playing in the Orchestra. Rehearsals are held once a week on Wednesday evenings. This promotes contact amongst doctors themselves and with members of other professions.
The HKMA Orchestra is one of the best examples of solidarity of the medical fraternity. In the years ahead, the HKMA Orchestra will continue to perform for the meaningful purpose of charity with the pinnacle of the medical profession – a heart that cares.
