The much awaited 30th Annual International Conference of the Indian Association of Palliative Care (IAPCON 2023) concluded successfully on Sunday, 12th February, 2023, after a 3-day academic fiesta.
IAPCON 2023 was a physical conference organised at the Nimhans Convention Center, Bengaluru, and was organised by Bangalore Hospice Trust – Karunashraya. The main conference was conducted over two and half days (Friday, 10th February 2023, to Sunday, 12th February 2023). Pre-conference workshops were held on Thursday, 9th February, 2023.
The conference was themed ‘Metamorphosis: The emergence of Subspeciality Palliative Medicine’.
Below are the highlights from the conference.
Preconference:
- Over 350 delegates and 70 Faculty participated in the day long pre-conference workshops
- The 10 pre-conference workshops were conducted on Thursday, 9th February, 2023, at 3 locations across the city: Bangalore Hospice Trust – Karunashraya, Shankara Eye Hospital and Aster CMI Hospitals.
Conference:
- Over 700 delegates came together to celebrate the advancement and progress of palliative care during IAPCON 2023.
- There were 80 National and 40 International speakers who participated in the conference.
- A total of 90 scientific sessions were delivered during the conference
- Day 1 (Friday, 10th February, 2023):
- The conference was inaugurated on Friday, 10th February, 2023, with the ceremonial lighting of the lamp by Dr Jeremy Johnson (the Chief Mentor of Karunashraya), Mr Kishore Rao (the Chairman of Karunashraya), Dr Sushma Bhatnagar (the President of IAPC), Dr Srinagesh Simha (the Conference Chair), Dr Naveen Salins (the Scientific Chair), Dr Savita Butola (the Secretary of IAPC), and Dr Seema Rajesh Rao (the Organising Secretary).
- The tracks for the day were Neurology Palliative Care, Nephrology Palliative Care, and Oncology Palliative Care.
- An online Renal Quiz was held by the Nephrology track
- In the evening of Day 1:
- The winners of the Cancer Aid Society’s ‘International Award for Excellence in Palliative Care’, 2021 – 2022 and the 2022 – 2023, were felicitated.
- Dr Srinagesh Simha received the ‘Lifetime Achievement Awards’, presented by the National Association of Palliative Care for AYUSH & Integrative Medicine. The award was presented to Dr Simha by Dr Linge Gowda and Mr Radhakrishnan Menon.
- Dr M R Rajagopal’s book, ‘Walk with the weary’ and Dr Sarita Singh’s book, ‘CBS Handbook on Pain and Palliative Care’ was also launched on the occasion
- Day 2 (Saturday, 11th February, 2023):
- The tracks for the day were Respiratory Palliative Care, ICU Palliative Care and Cardio Vascular Palliative Care
- In the evening of Day 2:
- Dr Pratima Murthy (Director, NIMHANS) graced the occasion, as Chief Guest, to address the gathering
- Dr Pratima Murthy and Dr Anil Kumar Paleri jointly presented the ‘Bruce Davis Gold Medal 2022’ to Dr Arjun D
- A Mesmerising cultural program, ‘Yakshanrutya’ (an exquisite folk dance of Karnataka) was presented by Kuriya Vittala Shastry Samaskruthika Prathishtana, which was enjoyed by everyone.
- This dance recital was then followed by a gala dinner
- Day 3 (Saturday, 12th February, 2023):
- The tracks for the day were on Theory of Change, End of Life Care, and Palliative Care Education
- The valedictory was held on the last day in which the organising team addressed the gathering.
- Dr Ednin Hamzah, (CEO, Hospis Malaysia) presented the various awards to the winners from the various activities held during IAPCON 2023.
- The winners from the Renal Quiz were:
- First place: Dr Gaurav Chanana
- Second place: Dr Megha Pruthi
- Third place: Dr Lekha Vijayakumar Raval
- A total of 177 posters and 72 oral presentations were presented over two days during the conference.
- The winners from the Oral presentation were:
- First place: Ms Diah Martina from Indonesia
- Second place: Dr Bharathi Srilatha G
- Third place: Dr Bhavya Shah
- The winners from the first day of poster presentation were as follows:
- First place: Dr Daniel Raj
- Second place: Dr Priyanghsu
- Third place: Dr Radha
- The winners from the second day of poster presentation were as follows:
- First place: Dr Divya SK
- Second place: Dr Isha Jatin Shah
- Third place: Dr Rajeev Shreshta
Over the three days, a true ‘metamorphosis’ was witnessed at the conference as opportunities were created for the integration of palliative care in other subspecialties, and also platform was created for several MD / DNB in Palliative medicine students to participate in the conference.
Please click here to read the comprehensive report from the conference.
Note: This article is a repulication from the March edition of the IAPC’s Newsletter.
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