History of AACLS

History of AACLS

(ASEAN Association of Clinical Laboratory Scientists, formerly AAMLT ASEAN Association of Medical Laboratory Technologists)

Leila Florento

The ASEAN Association for Clinical Laboratory Sciences (AACLS) was formed as The ASEAN Association of Medical Laboratory Technologists (AAMLT) on April 1985. The signing of the agreement was done at the first ASEAN Conference of Medical Laboratory Technology at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur. The name was changed to it is today at the 11th biennial general meeting on the 23rd May 2006 during the 11th ACMLT in Jakarta. MIMLS (Malaysia), PATELKI (Indonesia), AAMT(Thailand), SAMLS(Singapore), PAMET(Philippines) and BAMLS(Brunei) are currently member associations of AACLS.

In 1985, during the 10^th Anniversary of Malaysian Society of Medical Laboratory Technologists (MSMLT), official representatives from Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand formed a formal organization of ASEAN MLTs to be known as the ASEAN Association of Medical Laboratory Technologists (AAMLT).

During this 1985 meeting, the conference was dubbed as the 1^st ASEAN Conference in Medical Laboratory Technology (ACMLT).  The Pro-tem Committee was formed with R. Saminathan of Malaysia elected as Chairman.  The other office bearers were: Modh Bakri Hj Isa (Malaysia) as co-chairman; Henry Lee Siew Kheong (Malaysia) as Secretary; and Harun Pudin (Brunei Darussalam), Abdul Hakim Rahman (Indonesia), Carmencita Acedera (Philippines), Lersuang Chavanich (Thailand) and Kamarudin Bin Ali (Singapore/elected in absentia) as members.  The Pro-tem Committee formulated the objectives and the structure of AAMLT.

In November of 1986, the 2^nd ACMLT was hosted by PAMET in Manila, Philippines.  The AAMLT Constitution was drafted and adopted during the 1^st Biennial General Meeting of Delegates (BGM) in Manila. It was amended during the 10^th Biennial General Meeting in 2006.   It was also decided during the meeting that the hosting of the succeeding ACMLTs be rotated among the member country associations.

In November, 1993, AAMLT was formally affiliated with ASEAN during the 1^st meeting of the 27^th ASEAN Standing Committee held in Bangkok, Thailand.

During the 11th Conference in 2006 held in Indonesia, the Constitution was amended and the name AAMLT was changed to AACLS (ASEAN Association for Clinical Laboratory Sciences).