Announcements / Messages from IAPC
IAPC’s Infographic of the month
The August Infographic focuses on the concept of ‘Understanding Grief in Palliative Care’.
This initiative reflects the IAPC’s constant endeavour to promote palliative care education and awareness across the country.
Please feel free to share this infographic within your networks. The same will be available on our social media platforms and also on our website. Please click here to access the same.
We thank Dr Wasimul Hoda (Assistant Professor, Department of Anesthesia, RIMS, Ranchi) for his enthusiasm and constant support towards this initiative.
Last chance to participate in the IAPC’s ‘A photo journey – Looking through the prism of Palliative Care’
Get clicking to grab the last chance and submit entries to celebrate this year’s ‘World Photography Day’ (19th August, 2024) with a special initiative ‘A photo journey – Looking through the prism of Palliative Care’.
This initiative has been themed, ‘Looking through the prism of Palliative Care’ in observance of this year’s World Hospice and Palliative Care Day.
Anyone from the palliative care community is eligible to participate in this initiative. Those interested are requested to submit original photographs which resonate with the theme: ‘Looking through the prism of Palliative Care’. Each individual is encouraged to submit a maximum of 2 photographs in jpeg, jpg or png format with, each image having a minimum of 2 MB and a maximum 5 MB size.
The photos adhering to the guidelines will be published on the IAPC’s website on 19th August, 2024, in commemoration of ‘World Photography Day’.
Please click here for complete information about the initiative and the submission guidelines.
IAPCON 2025: Registrations invited for the academic fiesta; New Interesting Pre-conference workshops announced! Abstract submissions open!
The organising secretaries of the upcoming 32nd Annual International Conference of the Indian Association of Palliative Care (IAPCON 2025), Dr Rohit Lahori and Dr Sunana Gupta, invite registrations for IAPCON 2025 scheduled to be held at the Auditorium of AIIMS Jammu, between Friday, 31st January, 2025, and Sunday, 2nd February, 2025.
A very interesting line up of pre-conference workshops are scheduled to be held on Thursday, 30th January, 2025. For further details regarding the details pre conference workshops, please click here.
The theme for IAPCON 2025 is ‘Evidence based Palliative Care’.
Dr Anjum Joad (Chair, Scientific Committee, IAPCON 2025) and her team are also inviting researchers to submit abstracts of their work in palliative care for presentation at IAPCON 2025. A wide array of categories have been announced for submission of abstracts. Grab this chance to showcase your work to the world! Please click here to read further information about abstract submissions.
IAPCON 2025 is organised by the Jammu and Kashmir Chapter of IAPC, in collaboration with the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Jammu.
Please click here to visit the conference website for further information and to register for IAPCON 2025.
Applications invited for the ‘IAPC’s Gold Medal for Nurses 2024’
The IAPC is delighted to invite applications for the ‘IAPC’s Gold Medal for Nurses 2024’. The initiative aims to encourage nurses in palliative care to further develop their skills and knowledge and achieve excellence in palliative care.
Dr Lulu Mathews (Chairperson, Board of Examiners, IAPC) has been designated as the coordinator for the IAPC’s Gold Medal for Nurses 2024. She goes on to share that the national examination will be conducted in two steps.
- The first step will be a free to attend online screening examination which will include 100 MCQ’s to be completed by candidates at their own pace before 5 p.m. on Saturday, 31st August, 2024.
- The top 5 rank holders from the Step 1 online screening examination will be invited to participate in the Step 2 process, an in-person examination scheduled to be held on Monday, 28th October, 2024, at the Institute of Palliative Medicine, Kozhikode, Kerala.
The winner will of the ‘IAPC’s Gold Medal for Nurses 2024’ will receive a cash prize of Rs. 25,000/- (Twenty five thousand only), a citation and a medal.
Please click here for further details regarding the guidelines, the selection process, and the timelines.
The ‘Telangana State Chapter of the IAPC’ inaugurated on 29th June, 2024
We are happy to report that the ‘Telangana State Chapter of the IAPC’ was inaugurated formally on Saturday, 29th June, 2024, at an event held at Raddison Blu Plaza Hotel, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad, Telangana.
Dr Praneeth Suvvari (Consultant In-charge, Department of Pain and Palliative Care, BIACHRI, Hyderabad; Central Council Member (South Zone), IAPC) welcomed the audience and presented the objectives of the State Chapter along with highlighting the future and scope of Palliative Care in the State.
Several dignitaries were invited to share the inception and growth of palliative care in the State, along with highlighting the importance of establishing a State Chapter to facilitate the integration of palliative care services across the State and at various levels to ensure access and continuous supply of pain relief medications to patients spread across the State.
After the logo of the Telangana State Chapter was unveiled, Dr Gayatri Palat (Professor and Head, Department of Pain and Palliative, MNJ, Hyderabad) addressed the gathering regarding the need to adopt a Multidisciplinary approach while providing Palliative Care services. She also expressed gratitude and acknowledged the efforts of all those who had offered dedicated palliative services since the inception of the IAPC. An interesting panel discussion on neuropathic pain followed next.
The election of the office bearers to the newly formed State Chapter followed the panel discussion. The Office Bearers of the Telangana State Chapter of the IAPC as follows:
President – Dr Gayatri Palat
Secretary – Dr Praveen Kumar K
Treasurer – Dr Anjaneyulu
Committee Members – Ms Anusha Cheekati, Ms Dasari Priya Kumari, Mr Eshwaranna Kurva, Dr Manjula Bhagavatula, Dr Praneeth Suvvari, Ms Shubha Pai Kaduhole, Ms Vennela Padma
The event concluded with a few bereaved family members, Ms Bhargavi, and Mrs and Mr Rajeev, sharing their first-hand experience about the need and importance of palliative care to provide comfort to their loved ones and the positive impact and satisfaction they savoured while fulfilling the final wishes of their loved one.
Please click here to read the detailed report from the event.
Celebrating compassion: The IAPC’s celebration of National Doctors’ Day
The IAPC acknowledged the expertise and dedication of our doctors in providing compassionate care for palliative care patients and caregivers, with a special initiative, ‘Celebrating Compassion: The IAPC’s celebration of National Doctors’ Day’, a compilation of some very impressive and interesting insights shared by our persistent colleagues during their journey in palliative care.
Through this initiative, we hoped to inspire our colleagues from the palliative care community and also educate those from outside the field to encourage their greater involvement in palliative care.
Please click here to view the very impressive, and interesting insights shared by our persistent colleagues during their journey in palliative care.
The IAPC once again acknowledges and appreciates all our pioneers and every other doctor practising palliative medicine in India. Palliative care / medicine in the country would not be what it is today, if not for the efforts of each of you!
Tune in at 2:50 p.m. on 13th August, 2024, for a multilingual edition of ‘Singing for the Stars’
The IAPC and the Shankar Mahadevan Academy Nirvana (SMA Nirvana) invite you to join us at 2:50 p.m. on Tuesday, 13th August, 2024, for a national multilingual edition of ‘Singing for the Stars’.
This edition of the program is dedicated to our friends from across the country.
The evening of harmonies will be presented by Mr Anirudh Kashivishvanathan (Singer, Vocal Coach, Composer and a Performing Artist).
Don’t forget to join us at 2:50 p.m. on 13th August, 2024.
Update from the July event
The July edition of ‘Singing for the Stars’ was held on Thursday, 18th July, 2024.
Ms Vaishnavi Shriram (Vocalist, Song composer and a Performing Artist) presented an enthralling evening for harmonies as she presented popular numbers in Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam.
The program this month was very special due to several factors. We celebrated one of our ‘Stars’, Ms Maya Nair (Palliative Care Nurse, Department of Palliative & Supportive Medicine, Sri Aurobindo Institute of Medical Sciences, Indore, Madhya Pradesh) in recognition of her consistent and enthusiastic participation during each of our programs till date. Most often, Sr Maya logins to the event through her mobile phone and puts it on speaker as she goes from bed-to-bed to allow patients to enjoy the program. Her commitment to ease the suffering of her patients with the support of music is inspiring.
We were also fortunate and privileged to celebrate the birthdays of Mr Lakshmanan (a very elderly patient) and Ms Akhila (a Healthcare professional). We all joined Ms Shriram to sing the birthday song for our birthday babies. Ms Shriram then dedicated a song requested by our birthday babies.
The icing on the cake was the discovery of the very talented Ms Maya More, a caregiver, who blew us away with her melodious voice and her mesmerising singing. Our team felt that we had discovered a hidden gem in Ms More and have invited her to sing for us again in the next program in August.
Team IAPC and Team SMA Nirvana take this opportunity to extend our gratitude to all those who joined us and for spreading smiles during the show.
Leverage the IAPC’s Social Media to stay connected!
The IAPC is inviting each of you to join the IAPC’s Social Media community to network and stay connected with the palliative care community, from India and beyond!
To get started, Follow / Like us on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/palliativecare.in
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iapc-1994/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/iapcsecretary
The IAPC’s Careers page has been updated to reflect new vacancies from across the country
We invite you to visit the IAPC’s ‘View job vacancy’ page to view the recently updated vacancies in palliative care from across the country.
We request you to please also join us to improve the availability and access to palliative care by either sharing the details of vacancies at your center or by sharing the details of this platform with your colleagues to submit a vacancy from centers rendering palliative care services.
Call for Support: Your 2 minutes = Someone’s entire lifetime of Peace, Comfort and Dignity!
The IAPC requests you to spare just two minutes of your valuable time to submit / update the details of your palliative care services in the IAPC’s National Palliative Care Directory.
Steps to show your support:
- Please visit the IAPC’s National Palliative Care Directory and select the State from the drop down menu to check details of your center.
- If you need to add / update details of your center, then please visit the Submit/Update details of your PC center page on the IAPC website and submit the relevant details.
- After entering the relevant details, please click the ‘Submit’ button to record your responses.
Please do remember that your two minutes will make an invaluable difference in someone’s entire lifetime, as patients and caregivers, along with your colleagues will then have access to palliative care services when they need it the most!
Come on, donate your time to be a bridge in alleviating the suffering of our patients from across the country. Let no one be left behind!
Please click here for guidance on how to update your details.
‘Saath Saath Helpline’: India’s free palliative care helpline
Saath-Saath Helpline: 1800-202-7777, is the first of its kind National, Free-of-cost Palliative care helpline. The helpline offers non-judgmental listening services to palliative patients and their caregivers, or to a patient’s physician, and connects them to the nearest palliative care center.
The helpline has 26 partner organisations working across 17 States and Union territories viz; Maharashtra, Delhi, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Orissa, Punjab, Haryana, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Kashmir and West Bengal. Volunteers from Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH) and Cipla Palliative Care and Training Centre (CPC) attend the calls in four shifts to either provide information, offer Psycho-emotional support or to refer the caller to a partner organisation.
The helpline provides service through call-in on a phone line and works 6 days a week (Mon-Sat), 10 am to 6 pm.
You can offer your support by informing patients about this helpline and refer those who are in need of such services.