From the President’s Desk
Dear Friends,
Happy Doctors’ Day! We at the IAPC acknowledge and appreciate the enormous efforts made by each doctor towards delivering their services to the society. On this occasion, we present to you an updated directory of all the doctors who have completed / currently pursuing MD / DNB in Palliative Medicine. Please click here to view the same. I wish success to our Doctor colleagues for their future journey.
I am pleased to share an important development which makes our Doctors’ Day more meaningful. St. John’s National Academy of Health Care, Bengaluru, Karnataka, and Bhagwan Mahaveer Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Jaipur, Rajasthan, have been recognized by the NMC to offer DNB in Palliative Medicine from this year, with 2 seats allocated to each center. Congratulations Dr Nandini Vallath and Dr Anjum Khan Joad!
The much-appreciated initiative, the ‘IAPC’s Infographic of the month’ for July 2023, focuses on the ‘Basics of Palliative Care’. Thank you, Dr Wasimul Hoda, for your support towards this initiative.
The IAPC has collaborated with Clirnet, an online teaching platform, to present a series of lectures on palliative care for physicians who work in non-palliative care fields, to sensitise them in the fundamentals of palliative care. The first webinar in this series was organised on Saturday, 24th June, 2023. I invite you head over to the ‘Announcements / Messages from IAPC’ section of this newsletter for further details on this.
The IAPC’s official journal, the Indian Journal of Palliative Care has published the second issue of the April-June 2023 edition. I extend my congratulations to the editorial board led by Dr Raghavendra Ramanjulu for the successful launch of this edition.
Several important educational programs in palliative care have been announced by the IAPC, the Academy of Palliative Medicine, and by other organisations from across the country. Do visit the ‘Education and Training’ section of this newsletter for further information on these important initiatives, announcements and programs.
The IAPC Academy’s online lecture series 6 concluded in July 2023. A total of 149 lectures have been presented collectively from Series 1-6. I congratulate all the speakers and the faculty for presenting excellent lectures in the series. The next online lecture series has been renamed as the ‘Academy of Palliative Medicine’s online Lecture Series 1’ and will commence from Monday, 17th July, 2023. The ‘Education and Training’ section of this newsletter will provide you with the details of this series. We invite your continuous and active participation in the program.
The IAPC in partnership with the Pain and Palliative Care Unit, Govt JLNM Hospital, Srinagar, and the Pain and Palliative Care Unit, Government Medical College, Srinagar, sensitised 20 Doctors and 11 Nurses from 10 districts in Kashmir in the basics of palliative care, on Monday, 19th June, 2023, and Tuesday, 20th June, 2023. The program was funded by the NHM (NPPC). Congratulations to the organisers!
Congratulations to each of our colleagues who have been recognised for their achievements or for having surpassed important milestones. Please do visit the ‘Awards and Recognition’ section of this Newsletter to celebrate these achievements / awards.
Starting July 2023, the IAPC’s newsletter will present palliative care nurses with a platform to share their stories and thoughts with the rest of the world. Each edition will now feature an article by a nurse in the ‘IAPC’s exclusive articles section’ to 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’ by Dr A Latha, Jodhpur.
I thank and congratulate the other contributors for their support towards this month’s ‘IAPC’s Exclusive Articles’:
- The Paediatric Palliative Care Team, TMH, Mumbai: ‘Grey Matter Matters – Meaningful Experiences in Neuro-oncological PPC’
- Dr Rabiya Abdu Razak Malayil and Dr Saurabh Vig, New Delhi: ‘Albinism and Palliative Care’
- Ms Debashree Das Gupta, Mumbai: ‘Music, Health and Palliative Care: Through the lens of Music Therapy’
Most importantly, don’t forget to grab the early bird registration offer for IAPCON 2024, by registering before Monday, 31st July, 2023. 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.
Take care.
Dr. Sushma Bhatnagar
President, IAPC