On behalf of the Organizing Committee of XV Annual Congress of Asian Association of Transfusion Medicine, I am honored and delighted to welcome everyone to the beautiful land of Blue Sky, Mongolia!

National Center for Transfusion Medicine of Mongolia, along with the Ministry of Health Mongolia, is organizing the congress which will be held at Corporate Hotel and Convention Center, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia on September 11-13, 2019. We will discuss about the current state and the future trends of blood transfusion in international and in AATM member countries. The theme is “Future is now: A Fascinating Era for Transfusion Medicine.”      

We are expecting that the congress will provide a great opportunity not only for AATM faculty and members, but also transfusion medicine experts, facilitators, teachers, researchers and amateurs to share their experiences and information with each other.

In Mongolia, Blood Transfusion Service was first established in 1963 and has expanded to NCTM in 2007 which is operating under the direct management of Ministry of Health Mongolia. NCTM is a specialized nationwide center to recruit blood donors, to make analysis and produce blood and blood products, to provide blood transfusion support, diagnostic and treatment guidelines, standards and methodological recommendations, to train and retrain blood transfusion specialists, and to conduct researches. The center is providing professional methodology for 26 local blood centers throughout the country.  

NCTM is a specially certified and accredited Health Care Provider which has the internationally recognized OHSAS18001: 2012, ISO9001: 2015 and ISO15189: 2015 standards certification.

The government of Mongolia has paid special attention for security of blood transfusion in Mongolia and approved the "Donor Law" in 2000 and revised it in 2018.  In 2007, the government approved The Government Policy on Improving the Security and Supply of Donor Blood and Blood Products along with The Action Plan for Implementation of the policy in 2008-2015. The Health Sector Development Program 5 has been implemented according to the policy which allowed making comprehensive technological innovation in blood collection, analysis, production, and storage and transportation services in whole to meet international standards in blood transfusion sector in Mongolia.

Mongolia is an independent state which is located in the center of Asia with a population of 3.2 million people. It is a landlocked country bordering Russia on the north and bordering PRC on the south. Its territory is 1 million 566 thousand km² covering the vast land from Altai mountains to Khyangan mountains and from Soyon mountrains to Great Gobi desert. Mongolia is ranked on the 19^th in the world for its territory which has unique nature of the four seasons in its Gobi, Khangai and great steppe. The people of Mongolia are friendly and hospitable who kept their nomadic traditions until nowadays.

I look forward to meeting you all at the congress which will be a great place to learn and share our different and best experiences in blood transfusion medicine. I hope that you will have remarkable memories of Mongolian nomadic culture, too.

Sincerely yours:

Organizing Chairman

Assos Prof. N.Erdenebayar  M.D., Ph.D

Vice President of AATM