Kozhikode: For Dr Aarshi Taj, assistant professor at the Anaesthesiology and Critical Care department, Srinagar Govt medical college, terrorism and counter terrorism measures provided her the impetus to pursue palliative care.
Dr Aarshi says she was moved by those suffering from pellet injuries to the spine and those who could not get admitted to hospitals because of curfews imposed after terrorist attacks. Dr Aarshi had come here to participate in the National Fellowship in Palliative Medicine (NFPM) training organized by the Institute of Palliative Medicine (IPM) at the government medical college.
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Dr Aarshi is one among 17 doctors who have been selected to attend the training program. She says, " You cannot even imagine the condition in my state. There are many who have been injured in attacks and a majority of them cannot access medical facilities. Even though those trained in palliative care can attend to such people, they are not able to do so. Even though palliative care practices were initiated in India since two decades, Kashmiris do not have much idea about it. I came to know about it during a training program. That is how I decided to get specialty training with Pain and Palliative Care Society of Kozhikode, which initiated the program and IPM.”
She added that Kerala has made much progress in palliative care than the whole of India. Aarshi said that she had nurtured a desire to be trained at IPM for some time now because it has been in the forefront of such training. Students from Delhi, Jharkhand, UP, Gujarat, Andhra, Chennai, Bangalore and Puducherry are also attending the training.
The training is being provided for the past ten years and is an important course for doctors in India. So far, 200 candidates have received training. The one-year program includes clinical training and online training. Fellowship is given following continuous assessment and MBBS and BDS candidates are eligible. The doctors who have passed out from here have started their own centers in various places in India. To provide training to nurses, NFPN was started in 2015.
More details are available at http://www.instituteofpalliativemedicine.org/downloads/NFPM%20PROSPECTUS%202016%20-%20Final.pdf
Email: nfpmacademics@gmail.com