5TH NATIONAL ASSEMBLY on Pediatric Emergency Medicine

Ludhiana, February 13, 2013: IAP Intensive Care Chapter Punjab state Branch in association with Society of Trauma and Emergency Pediatrics is organising 5^th National Assembly on Pediatric Emergency Medicine (NAPEM 2013) in Ludhiana from February 15-17at Guru Nanak Dev Bhawan Ludhiana. It is 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 will be delivering 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 is starting with a theme “Bringing Emergency Care Closer to Home”. Main purpose of the conference is to strengthen the pediatric emergency services in the state. This conference is 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 is very new and very few people are trained in it. Recognising this Dr Suneet Singhi Prof & 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 is being done 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 are being organised in all the major medical institutes of the city on 15^th of February. Workshop on Airway and Vascular access will held at DMC & Hospital, workshop on Trauma Triage and Transport of injured child will held in CMC hospital and workshop on Ultrasound Use in Emergency and Critical Care will be conducted in SPS Apollo Hospitals. To train the Nurses in handling pediatric emergencies “Pediatric Advance life support course for nursing is being held at GTB Hospital.

As children spend majority of their time in schools a workshop is kept for teachers ” Emergency Preparedness Programme for School teachers” at BCM Arya School at Shastri Nagar where teachers from all the schools are invited. Teachers will be 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 Bains are the patrons. Dr Jugesh Chhatwal and Dr Rakesh Gupta are the organising chairpersons and Dr Vikas Bansal and Dr Gurmeet Kaur are the organising secretaries. Dr S S Gill, Vice Chancellor, Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, is the invited Chief Guest and Dr Karanjeet Singh, Director Health Service, Punjab is 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 starts on February 16 at Guru Nanak Dev Bhawan and it covers 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 covers topics on Pediatric poisoning along with disaster management in children.