5TH NAPEM 2013 concludes at Ludhiana

Ludhiana, February 18, 2013: IAP Intensive Care Chapter Punjab state Branch in association with Society of Trauma and Emergency Pediatrics has organised 5th National Assembly on Pediatric Emergency Medicine (NAPEM 2013) in Ludhiana from February 15-17 at Guru Nanak Dev Bhawan Ludhiana.

It was an India- International event where international speakers from different countries like DR J Surpure, Dr Shiva Kalidindi from USA, Dr Mohit Singla from Canada and Dr Chong Shulin from Singapore delivered their talks on various aspects of pediatric emergencies.

Renowned Pediatric emergency experts from all over the country will also be delivering their talks.

This National Assembly on Pediatric Emergency Medicine started with a theme “Bringing Emergency Care Closer to Home”.

Main purpose of the conference was to strengthen the pediatric emergency services in the state.

This conference was designed specifically to address exclusively on the care of the child, who may present to the hospital, pediatric clinic, office or community centre with a number of different emergency conditions. It’s a well known fact that many emergencies can be handled at the peripheral levels if the pediatricians are trained in doing so. More so if a sick child is referred after initial management and with proper transport facilities, it can really improve the child survival.

Till date field of pediatric emergencies and transportation of sick child was very new and very few people are trained in it. Recognising this Dr Suneet Singhi Prof and Head Advanced Pediatric Centre along with Dr Suresh Gupta Pediatric Emergency Expert from Sir Ganga Ram Hospital New Delhi got associated with Society of Trauma and Emergency Pediatrics and started doing this national conference. It is done annually and cities like Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Guwahti had been already covered. But it happened in Ludhiana, Punjab for the first time.

For the training of the post graduate students and to bring advance diagnostic modalities at the bed side to manage emergencies in a better way, three preconference workshop were organised in all the major medical institutes of the city on February 15. Workshop on Airway and Vascular access was at DMC & Hospital, workshop on Trauma Triage and Transport of injured child was at CMC Hospital and workshop on Ultrasound Use in Emergency and Critical Care was conducted in SPS Apollo Hospitals. To train the Nurses in handling pediatric emergencies “Pediatric Advance life support course for nursing was held at GTB Hospital.

As children spend majority of their time in schools a workshop was kept for teachers “Emergency Preparedness Programme for School teachers” at BCM Arya School at Shastri Nagar where teachers from more than 20 schools participated. Teachers were trained in recognising basic emergencies which can happen with the child at school, their initial management so that the child can be taken to the nearby hospital with proper first aid which will help him decrease the morbidity and mortality of the illness.

All the institutes and senior pediatricians of the city have come together to organise this national conference. Dr Daljit Singh, Dr A S Chawla and Dr H S Bainswere the patrons. Dr Jugesh Chhatwal and Dr Rakesh Gupta were the organising chairpersons and Dr Vikas Bansal and Dr Gurmeet Kaur were the organising secretaries. Dr S S Gill, Vice Chancellor, Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, was the invited Chief Guest and Dr Karanjeet Singh, Director Health Service, Punjab was the Guest of honour for the conference.

More than 200 delegates from all over the country has already registered and number is expected to go beyond 400. Main conference started on February 16 at Guru Nanak Dev Bhawan and covered all the topics on pediatric emergencies including respiratory problems, shock scenarios, infectious emergencies, neuro-emergencies, pediatric surgical emergencies, trauma and pediatric urgent care. Conference also coverered topics on Pediatric poisoning along with disaster management in children.