From the President’s Desk

Dr. Sushma Bhatnagar

Dear Friends,

The World Hospice and Palliative Care Day (WHPCD), is an annual Global Day of Action to celebrate and support hospice and palliative care. The WHPCD will be observed this year on Saturday, 12th October, 2024. In honour of WHPCD, the IAPC has launched the initiative ‘Share the Progress of Your Institution’s Journey in Palliative Care’, which dovetails under this year’s WHPCD theme, to provide a platform for institutions across India to share and celebrate their unique journeys in palliative care. The initiative aims to showcase the commitment of palliative care institutions and the meaningful impact they’ve made in the communities they serve. I invite each of you to participate in the initiative by submitting entries before Sunday, 6th October, 2024. Please click here for further information on this.

The IAPC’s Election Notification has also been published in this edition of the newsletter. Nominations are invited for the post of Secretary, IAPC (2026 – 2029) (Secretary Elect from 2025 – 2026; Secretary from 2026 – 2029), and West Zone (1 member), IAPC’s Central Council (2025 – 2027). Those interested to make a positive change in India’s palliative care landscape are requested to submit their online nomination before 5 p.m. on Tuesday, 10th December, 2024. Please click here for further details about this.

This month’s IAPC’s infographic focuses on ‘Emergencies in Palliative Care’. I encourage you to make full use of this resource and share it widely within your networks. Please click here to view and download the entire set of Infographics published till date.

The Organising committee and the Scientific committee of the 32nd Annual International Conference of the Indian Association of Palliative Care (IAPCON 2025), is working very hard to present us with an excellent scientific fiesta. I invite you register for the conference if not done already as the conference will present 15 very exciting and innovative workshops, some of which are being organised for the first time at IAPCON. Researchers are invited to submit abstracts and grab the opportunity to win the following interesting prizes:

  • ‘MT Bhatia Award for Best Poster presentation for Nurses’
  • ‘IAPC’s Award for Doctors’
  • ‘IAPC’s Award for Nurses, Social Workers, Physiotherapists, Pharmacists, Psychologists, and Volunteers’.

The ‘Announcement / Messages from IAPC’ section of the newsletter will provide you with further information about IAPCON 2025 and also about other important updates such as the results from the Step 1 Online Screening Examination for the ‘IAPC’s Gold Medal for Nurses 2024’, the launch of the ICPCN’s toolkit, and more.

With each month, it is heartening to note that the scale of palliative care related educational programs, that are being planned and conducted across India is growing steadily. I encourage you to explore the ‘Education and Training’ section of this newsletter for updates on new course announcements and reports from various educational programs held across the country. My heartiest congratulations to everyone involved in organizing these much needed activity.

We are thrilled to share that our colleagues continue to receive prestigious awards in the field of palliative care, and institutions are surpassing important milestones in care delivery. I extend my sincere congratulations to each of them! Join me in congratulating and celebrating these achievements and milestones detailed in the ‘Awards and Recognitions’ section of this newsletter.

A special mention goes out to our contributors for their support towards this month’s ‘IAPC’s Exclusive Articles’:

Most importantly, don’t forget to keep yourself updated with new knowledge and evidence from around the world. Please visit the ‘Other Upcoming Events’ section of this newsletter to mark your calendars and participate in upcoming webinars and conferences.

I leave you with an invitation to join us for the upcoming multilingual edition of ‘Singing for the Stars’ scheduled for 3:50 p.m. on Tuesday, 8th October 2024. I extend my humble thanks to the Shankar Mahadevan Academy Nirvana for their consistent support towards this program.

With warm regards,

Dr. Sushma Bhatnagar
President, IAPC