From the President’s Desk

Dear Friends,
Together we celebrated World Hospice and Palliative Care Day, once again, in 2020, on 10th October. Palliative care groups in India joined with the global community to raise their voice for Palliative Care. While looking back, we can see that considerable progress has been made in the field of palliative care in the last decade. Is this progress enough to meet the need? No, we haven’t reached anywhere! The recently published Global Atlas on Palliative Care (2nd Edition) reveals an alarming statistics.
As per the Atlas, worldwide, over 56.8 million people are estimated to require palliative care every year and only 12% of the need is met. The gap is huge! ‘Palliative care is still not accessible by most of the people in need, especially in low and middle-income countries (LMICs).’.
The 2nd Edition of the Global Atlas, jointly published by WHPCA and WHO provides a much needed evidence that can be utilized to advocate for increased access to palliative care for all of those who are in need. This valuable resource will be helpful for us in our efforts to convince the government and the officials about the sufferings of thousands in our country and the urgent need to develop service provisions in India. Details of the Global Atlas in Palliative Care is given in this Newsletter. You can download it. I am sure that you all will definitely go through the details, and will use it for the progress of palliative care.
Updates on various projects/activities of IAPC are available in this Newsletter. Please have a look. We need your suggestions and support. Please write to nio.iapc@gmail.com.
Dr. Sushma Bhatnagar
President
IAPC
For Palliative Care, with the Global Community

People from all over India joined with the Global Community to raise their voice for Palliative Care once again. Various programs were organized on 10th October 2020 to celebrate World Hospice and Palliative Care Day.
Indian Association of Palliative Care launched training programs in Palliative Care for Physiotherapists as well as for Counsellors on the occasion of World Hospice and Palliative Care Day. Thank you faculty members for developing curriculum for these programs and conducting the first batch successfully.
Programs organized all over India as part of World Hospice and Palliative Care Day is available Here
Lecture and Panel Discussion on
‘Palliative Care during the COVID-19 Pandemic’
by AIIMS, New Delhi
An online Lecture and Expert Panel Discussion on the theme ‘Palliative Care during the COVID-19 Pandemic, Medical and Ethical Principles and Practice’ was organized by AIIMS, New Delhi. More than 200 delegates participated. Prof. Eric L. Krakuer MD, PhD, Director, Global Palliative Care Program, Massachusetts was the speaker. The session was chaired by Prof. Randeep Guleria, Director AIIMS, New Delhi.
For details of the program and to view the video of the Lecture and Panel Discussion, please follow this Link.
Palliative Care
It’s My Care, My Comfort

IAPC invited Palliative Care team members to share their experiences based on the theme of World Hospice and Palliative Care Day 2020, Palliative Care: It’s “My Care, My Comfort”. Thanks to all of you who shared their experiences with us. We will be publishing all of them in the IAPC Newsletter and on IAPC Website. Here you can read a few of them.
Palliative Care; Chacko’s Comfort
“Two days later on a Thursday, Chacko called me from his Parish church. He was attending his son’ s wedding. He sounded very weak but told he was so happy. Two days later, Saturday, Chacko left us…”
Dr. Lulu Mathews shares the efforts by the Palliative Care team to fulfill the wishes of a terminally ill patient. Read the full article Here
Lessons: In Life, In Death
My awareness about palliative care led to my advocating with her treating doctor for a discharge. Her partially-paralyzed face lighting up with a broad smile as I waltzed into her ward and announced “grandma, we are going home” – Ms. Aneka shares her experience of caring her grandmother and how her awareness about palliative care helped the family to provide comfort care to her grandmother. Read the full article Here
“Story of Ruma”
Here Ms. Maheli Chakraborty narrates a loving husband’s tribute to his wife by providing care to thousands. Read the full article Here
If it were my Mother…
How the care you provide makes the patient and family relieved from their suffering! Not only the physical suffering; here is an experience shared by Dr. Biji M. S. Read the full article Here
Global Atlas in Palliative Care
The second edition of the Global Atlas of Palliative Care published by the WHPCA and the WHO is now available for reference. This edition provides an update to the current situation of palliative care development globally since the first edition was published in 2014.
To download the Atlas, please follow this Link
IAPC Academy
Online Training Program for Doctors in Palliative Medicine

The young generation has proved it; their knowledge and skill, their dedication, and willingness to work hard, learn and excel! All the academic lectures in the month of October were by young faculty in Palliative Medicine in India. Dr. Anuja Damani, Dr. Arunagshu Ghoshal, Dr. Pankaj Singhai and Dr. Krithika S Rao were the faculty. All the sessions were appreciated by seniors in the field and also by participants. Congratulations!
In November, you will again get the opportunity to listen to the seniors on different topics. The month starts with the lecture by Dr. Raghavendra Ramanjulu on Approach to a patient with Dyselectrolytemias in Palliative Care. This will be followed by Lectures on Pediatric Palliative Care. Faculty presenting the topics in this series are pioneers in the field of Pediatric Palliative Care in India; Dr Gayatri Palat, Dr. Lulu Mathews, and Dr. Mary Ann Muckaden. The last one in November is by Dr. Rakesh Garg on Approach to an Adult Patient with Nausea and Vomiting.
Register and make sure your participation by sending an email to academyiapc@gmail.com
IAPC Certificate Course In Essentials Of Palliative Care
Next Session in December 2020

The next batch of IAPC Certificate Course in Essentials of Palliative Care will be organised as online sessions and the sessions will be conducted in December 2020. The schedule of the program will be published on IAPC website by 15th November, 2020.
You can register now for the course.
Eligibility: MBBS / BDS for Doctors and GNM / BSc Nursing for Nurses
Fee: Rs. 2500/- for Doctors and Rs. 1200/- for Nurses
For registration, please download application form from this Link.
Please submit your application form along with fee paid details (you can make online payment; details given in the application form) to your nearest centre. Please download the list of centres also.
If you have any query related to this training program, please email to academicsiapc@gamil.com
Congratulations Dr. Varun and Dr. Lekha

We are happy to announce and welcome, the 2nd batch of postgraduate students joined in the Department of Palliative Medicine, GCRI, Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Congratulations to Dr. Varun Yadav and Dr. Lekha Raval. Wishing you all the best!
Fellowship in Palliative Care
Fellowship in Palliative Care is an advanced course run by the Institute of Palliative Medicine, Kozhikode, India in partnership with Sanjeevan Palliative Care Project, Pondicherry, India, St. Christopher’s Hospice, London, United Kingdom and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Bangladesh. The objective of the program is to deliver a good quality training program, affordable to participants from low- and middle-income countries.
For details, brochure and application form, please follow this Link
Voices from the IAPC
At the EAPC 2020 at Palermo Italy

The European Association of Palliative Care held its virtual conference at Palermo on 7th, 8th and 9th of October 2020. There were six poster presentations and one poster discussion by participants from India. Two of them were shortlisted as award winning! Please see details Here
IAPC Gujarat Chapter
Gujarat Chapter of IAPC was formed on 28th July 2020, Congratulations Dr. Geeta Joshi and Team. The chapter has 50 members.
Training on Essential Narcotic Drugs

A training program on Essential Narcotic Drugs was organised by Department of Palliative Medicine, GCRI, Ahmedabad. This is the 3rd training on ENDs conducted by GCRI in the last two years.

Book of the month
For book club discussion – November 2020
‘Light from many Lamps’ edited by Lillian Eichler Watson.
‘Light from many Lamps’ is a classic book of motivation including hundreds of passages and quotations, selected from the knowledge of the ages.
Worth Reading
Logic Conflicts in Community-Based Palliative Care
Community-based palliative care services and their integration with public health systems are of considerable contemporary interest. However, the conflicts that emerge in such a complex organizational field comprising multiple stakeholders with diverse interests remain under-examined. Here you can read an analysis of community-based palliative care in Kerala. This analysis identifies four ‘logic conflicts’ that indicate competing frames of reference in an organizational field. These conflicts shape decision-making and coordination and manifest as:
1) professional versus community logics,
2) centralized versus decentralized governance logics,
3) generalist versus specialist care logics,
4) charity versus rights-based logics.
To read article, please follow this link: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344925295_Logic_Conflicts_in_Community-Based_Palliative_Care
For donations to IAPC and for further information write to nioiapc@gmail.com .