The 16th International conference of Indian Association of Palliative Care was held at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi from 13th to 15th February 2009.  600 delegates including 52 from foreign countries participated in the conference.  Nearly half of the participants were Volunteers working with palliative care services. This annual event brings together doctors, volunteers, nurses, social workers, counselors, researchers and others working in the field of palliative care from all over the globe. The conference provided a platform for delegates to share their views and experiences and to peruse their practices with a new out look and also contribute to the palliative care development in the country.
           
The theme of the conference was “freedom from pain” and the objective was to improve knowledge base and clinical skills in addressing the issues of pain in cancer and HIV/AIDS patients.
The scientific content of this conference focused on how to incorporate the principles of Pain Management in Palliative Care. This gave an opportunity for doctors, nurses and other health care professionals to have a good overview of these issues and pertinent subjects. 

The three day conference was divided into parallel sessions. Experts from different countries presented papers on important topics. 21 sessions were held with a pre conference cadaveric workshop in Interventional Pain Management techniques for cancer patients on 12th February.

A total of 56 invited lectures were taken by world renowned faculty and 135 free papers covering a spectrum of topics that represent the truly multi disciplinary nature of the field. The lecture topics included various aspects of pain management, paediatric palliative care and recent advances. All the lectures and abstracts were compiled and edited in a separate Manuscript book “Freedom from Pain.

The activities of Project Kiran was showcased in a session held on 14th February. Its relevance, various components, achievements were discussed at this well attended session.

At the inaugural function, Dr. Karan Singh Yadav eminent cardiothoracic surgeon and Member of Parliament was the chief guest and Dr. Surinder Singh, Drugs Controller General of India was the Guest of Honour. Dr. Cecilia Sepulveda, Head of Cancer Division, WHO, Geneva gave the oration. At the function Dr. Sepulveda and Ms. Gilly Burn, Founder Director, Cancer relief India were presented mementoes in recognition of their contribution to the development of palliative care in India. Dr. Mrs. V M Devakar, the iconic anaesthesiologist and Dr. G K Rath, Director, BRAIRCH also graced the function.  Earlier Dr. Sushma Bhatnagar, Organising Secretary  of the conference welcomed the guests and delegates. Prof. Sukdev Nayak, President, IAPC presided over the function and Dr. Anil Kumar Paleri, Hon. Secretary, IAPC delivered vote of thanks.
A work shop for National faculty, review meeting of the IAPC Certificate Course, IAPC Central Council meeting, Annual General Body Meeting of Indian Association of Palliative Care for the year 2009 was also held during these days at different venues at AIIMS.
Cultural progrmmes were also arranged as part of the conference which was a mix of traditional and classical art forms from across the country, many performed by delegates.
2ndInternational Conference on Public Health and Palliative Care
The 2nd International Conference on Public Health and Palliative Care will be held in Dhaka, Bangladesh on 21st and 22nd January 2011. The conference will be jointly organised by Palliative Care Service in Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (Dhaka, Bagladesh), Institute of Palliative Medicine (Calicut, India) and Department of Social and Policy Science (University of Bath, UK). Pre Conference workshop will be held on 20th January 2011.

For more details log on to  http://www.pubhealthpallcare.in/ or
Contact: pubhealthpallcare@googlemail.com