Announcements / Messages from IAPC

Happy Doctors’ Day

The IAPC extends its heartiest warm wishes to all the Palliative Care Doctors on the occasion of National Doctors’ Day.

On this occasion, we are pleased to share a list of the all the MD / DNB in palliative medicine doctors from across the country. Please click here to access this list, which will be updated each year. Over time, this list will be further populated to include the areas of key interest for each individual along with listing the current affiliations of those who have completed their MD and DNB in Palliative Medicine.

On this occasion, we also acknowledge and appreciate all our pioneers and every other doctor practicing palliative medicine in India. Palliative care / medicine in the country would not be what it is today, if not for the perseverant efforts from each of you!

Happy Doctors’ Day!


IAPC’s Infographic of the month

The IAPC’s July Infographic focuses on the ‘Basics of 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.

We thank Dr Wasimul Hoda (Assistant Professor, Department of Anesthesia, RIMS, Ranchi) for his enthusiasm and constant support towards this initiative.


The ‘IAPC’s Exclusive articles’ section will henceforth present an article by a palliative care nurse every month

The IAPC acknowledges and emphasises the importance of nurses in delivering quality palliative care. Keeping this in mind, the IAPC is delighted to present our palliative care nurses from across the country with a platform to encourage them to share their stories, thoughts and expressions.

From the July 2023 edition of the IAPC’s newsletter, the exclusive reads section will feature one article from a nurse. The idea behind this is to encourage our nurses to write and share their stories with the rest of the world, and to also facilitate the cross pollination of knowledge and experiences.

We invite you to read the first article from this series,Addressing Constipation and Alleviating Pain: A Nurse’s Compassionate Intervention presented by Dr A Latha, from Jodhpur.

The IAPC also expresses it’s gratitude to Ms Anu Savio Thelly for her support in this initiative.

 


The IAPC partners with Clirnet to launch a series of webinars on Palliative Care for non-palliative care physicians

The IAPC partners with Clirnet, an online teaching platform to present a series of lectures on palliative care for physicians who work in non-palliative care fields, with an aim to sensitise, connect and empower non-palliative care physicians in the fundamentals of palliative care. Clirnet is one of the fastest growing network of doctors in Asia with over 5,00,000 members.

Through this collaboration, the IAPC aims to target other associations such as the Indian Medical Association, the Indian Association of Pediatrics, the Indian Association of Obstetrics and Gynaecologist, and post graduate students from other disciplines. The series will be designed keeping in mind the work and needs of each association, and will be presented by IAPC’s experts who can advocate for palliative care within these branches and help coordinate further education and training as needed.

The first introductory live webinar from the series, ‘To cure sometimes but to comfort always: The potent power of palliative care’ was organised on Saturday, 24th June, 2023, between 7:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., and was attended by 35 physicians. The interactive session was successful in introducing Palliative Care as a part of Healthcare which is relevant to not only all the branches of Medicine, but as also relevant at all levels of Care (Primary, Secondary and Tertiary). It also re-emphasised that palliative care was more than just end of life care and as that which is not limited to only oncology patients. This session was delivered by Dr Savita Butola (Secretary, IAPC), with Dr Sushma Bhatnagar (President, IAPC) delivering the welcome address. The session was moderated by Ms Archana Ganesh (Program Manager: Projects and Advocacy, IAPC). Further details from the series will be shared shortly.


IAPCON 2024 Update: Register before 31st July, 2023, to avail the early bird registration offer

The organising secretary of IAPCON 2024, Dr Priti Sanghavi, on behalf of the entire organising committee invites registrations for the upcoming 31st Annual International Conference of the Indian Association of Palliative Care.

The in-person conference is scheduled to be held at the Auditorium, Gujarat Cancer and Research Institute, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, between Friday, 9th February, 2024, and Sunday, 11th February, 2024. The Pre-conference workshops are slated for Thursday, 8th February, 2024.

IAPCON 2024 is themed ‘Revisiting the domains of Palliative Care’, as it aims to enhance the delegates’ practise of palliative care by empowering them with the various aspects in Palliative Care for both cancer and non-cancer patients. Scientific Sessions therefore will include sessions on Oncology, Neurology, Cardiology, Respiratory Medicine, Nephrology, Geriatric Care etc. Sessions will also include the nursing care plans, role of psychologist, volunteers, NGOs in providing palliative care, along with presentations on research methodology and scientific paper presentations.

Please visit the conference website for further information and to register for IAPCON 2024.


The IJPC publishes the second issue of April – June 2023 edition

We are delighted to share that the IAPC’s official journal, the Indian Journal of Palliative Care has published the second issue of the April-June 2023 edition.

Please click here to view the same.

The IJPC is an open access peer-reviewed journal committed to publishing high-quality articles in the field of Palliative Care. The journal is indexed with or included in the following: PubMed Central, SCOPUS, Emerging Sources Citation Index, Indian Science Abstracts, Scimago Journal Ranking

The IJPC is also registered with the following abstracting partners: EBSCO, Google Scholar, ProQuest, CrossRef, ReadCube, Portico.

Congratulations, Dr Raghavendra Ramanjulu, the Editor-in-Chief of the IJPC, and to all those who were involved in the successful launch of this edition.


The WHPCA publishes the WHPCD 2023 Toolkit

The much awaited ‘WHPCD 2023 Toolkit’ was published earlier this month, by the Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance (WHPCA) to help support preparations for this year’s upcoming World Hospice and Palliative Care Day (WHPCD).

The WHPCD is an annual unified day of action to celebrate and support hospice and palliative care around the world. The WHPCD this year will be observed on Saturday, 14th October, 2023, with the theme: Compassionate Communities: Together for Palliative Care.

Please click here to access and download the ‘WHPCD 2023 Toolkit’ which is rich in resources. The online kit currently includes social media resources, a media release template, an advocacy template and a document with a few fundraising hints and tips. The team at WHPCA shares that resources will continue to be added to the website over the coming months as well.

Please click here for further details about this year’s WHPCD Theme.


Join us for the IAPC and SMA Nirvana’s National multilingual edition of ‘Singing for the Stars’ at 3:50 p.m. on 13th July, 2023

The IAPC and the Shankar Mahadevan Academy Nirvana (SMA Nirvana) invite you to join us at 3:50 p.m. on Thursday, 13th July, 2023, for a national multilingual edition of ‘Singing for the Stars’.

This edition of musical evening of harmonies is dedicated to our friends from across the country.

The evening of harmonies will be presented by Ms Trushna Oak (Singer, Performing Artist, Vocal training Coach). Ms Oak will be presenting songs in Hindi and Marathi.

Don’t forget to join us at 3:50 p.m. on 13th July, 2023.

Update from the June event

We are thrilled to share that the national multilingual edition of ‘Singing for the Stars’ in June was a brilliant concert. This edition was dedicated to our friends from across the country. This explosive concert and edition was presented by Mr Gagan Gaonkar (Vocalist and Performing Artist) at 3:50 p.m. on Wednesday, 14th June, 2023. Mr Gaonkar presented very popular numbers in Tamil, Kannada, and Hindi. 

Please click here to watch a recording of this session.


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:

  1. Please visit the IAPC’s National Palliative Care Directory and select the State from the drop down menu to check details of your center.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.