Closing Session • Thursday, 20 September 2001 • Allocating the Society's Resources

The Forum's Closing Session will bring together, summarize, and collate the various themes of the Forum under the umbrella of societies' efforts to determine the proper role of healthcare. The important question will be asked: Is there any reason why, in any particular society, healthcare spending should not be the biggest single line item in a national budget? Phrased in another way: Is not the alleviation of pain and suffering and the improvement of the quality of life of its citizens the supreme goal of an advanced civilization?

If the answer to the last question is in the affirmative, how do healthcare professionals, scientists, physicians and surgeons, and industry leaders guarantee that this improvement will indeed continue to happen? Can improvement through innovation be stifled in a global society of growing populations and evolving illnesses?

There are a multiplicity of factors which drive innovation. It is the Forum's view that they are both complimentary and synergistic. Furthermore, it is the Forum's view that governments should facilitate the processes of innovation and do everything possible to make sure scientific and technological creativity happens in a free and unencumbered way.

The speakers at the closing session will address these more general societal issues and explain how the resources of society may be allocated in order most constructively to achieve these goals.