SENSITISATION PROGRAMME FOR UNDERGRADUATES ON PALLIATIVE MEDICINE AT SSSMCRI

A sensitization program on palliative medicine was organised at Shri Sathya Sai Medical College and Research Institute, a constituent College of Sri Balaji Vidhyapeeth. The Inaugural session started with an invocation followed by welcome address by Dr Nasreen Begum, Professor of General Medicine. It was followed by Dean addressing the gathering and he spoke about the importance of palliative medicine. It was followed by the Medical superintendent’s speech on the role of palliative medicine in UG syllabus. A brief introduction on palliative medicine was given by Dr Republica Sridhar followed by a vote of thanks by Dr Gnanasekar from a department of anaesthesia SSSMCRI.The inaugural session was attended by the faculty members.

The scientific session started with Prof. Pushpa Kotur’s lecture on ‘Prelude of palliative medicine’ to UG students. The lecture was followed by the panel discussion.

The panel discussion was headed with Dr Republica Sridhar and the discussion was about the relevance of Palliative medicine in under graduate teaching. The Panelists were Dr. Mohanasundaram President, Tamil Nadu , Palliative Care society, Dr. Karthik Ramakrishnan Managing director – Athulya Assisted Living  and Prof. Azhar Hussain, Consultant in Pain & Palliative care,ARK Hospital, Cancer Institute, Adyar, Chennai.

Next lecture was by Dr Mallika Tiruvadanan on topic “Don’t torture the dying – end of life care”. She spoke about medical care in terminally ill patients . The lecture included few case presentations for easy understanding of the audience,

The final lecture was from Ms. Gilly Burns on ‘Communication skills about palliative medicine’ for undergraduates. Her lecture included practical demonstration on how to interact and empathise the terminally ill cancer patients. All the students were benefited immensely both in the theoretical and practical aspects of palliative medicine.