Published on: March 21, 2023

An expert talk by Ms Gilly Burn, Founder Director, Cancer Relief India, on the topic “Introduction to Palliative Care and Role of Nursing in PC” was organized from 6^th to 11^th March in Ludhiana, Amritsar and Aligarh. These programs were organized by DMC (Dayanand Medical College), Ludhiana, MOH (Mohandai Oswal Hospital) Ludhiana, SGRD (Sri Guru Ram Das Hospital) Amritsar and JNMC (Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College) Aligarh, in collaboration with Pallium India.

The CME on Introduction to Palliative Care by Gilly Burn was held at DMC (Dayanand Medical College), Ludhiana on 6^th March, MOH (Mohandai Oswal Hospital) Ludhiana on 7^th March, SGRD (Sri Guru Ram Das Hospital) Amritsar on 9^th March and JNMC (Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College) Aligarh at 10^th & 11^th  March, 2023.

Dr Navish David, (PC Consultant, MOH Ludhiana), Dr Kunal Jain, (MO DMC Ludhiana), Dr Harjot Singh (SGRD Amritsar) and Dr Mubashir H (JNMC Aligarh) co-ordinated and arranged Ms Gilly Burn’ local travel, food and accommodation. Approximately 622 (70-DMC, 140-MOH, 95-SGRD and JNMC-322) participants (doctors, nurses and paramedical staff) attended the sessions in total.

Ms Gilly Burn visited Sri Guru Ram Das University of Health Sciences, Sri Amritsar, Punjab on March 9, 2023 and gave a session on The Art of gentle dying: A philosophy of Palliative care. About 65 participants attended, including Oncologists, Nurses and MBBS Interns.

Dr Harjot Singh and Dr Paramjot Bindra welcomed Gilly and introduced her to the audience by briefing about her work & contribution to palliative care in the UK, India and several other countries.

Gilly started her session by sharing various scenarios on palliative care and explaining how it was the need of the hour in India. She spoke about total pain, principles of palliative care, especially during end of life, and the right to choose where you would like to die. She elaborated on empathy when she displayed a picture of a patient in the ICU and shared a recording of the sound of the beep in the ICU. This was extremely impactful specially about Stool Communication method in nurses.

The thought-provoking session with personal examples helped the participants relate to their own experiences, which some of them shared. Gilly emphasized the importance of the role of volunteers and each of us in palliative care as being the voice of the voiceless.

At the conclusion of the session, the participants said that the session was very informative and eye-opening. Ms Gilly Burn was Facilitated by Dean Dr A P Singh and also invited back to SGRDUHS, Sri Amritsar. Vote of Thanks was conveyed by Dr Harjot Singh.