I am glad that 23rd International Conference on Indian Association of Palliative Care being organized at Pune India from 12th to 13th February 2016.
The theme of the conference was “Engage, Educate, Empower, and Excel.” The main objective was to improve knowledge base and skills in addressing the issues related to palliative care in above areas.
Myself and my colleague Dr. Naveen Salins has worked hard to make a comprehensive scientific program, which can focus how to incorporate the art, science, and principles of palliative care to engage, educate, empower, and excel to all those who are attending this conference. I am confident that this conference was a unique investment of time and an opportunity for doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals to have a good overview of the issues related to this subject.
This conference was also a collection of papers provided by students, practicing doctors, nurses, research scientists, and academicians from ten different countries. The 125 abstracts were reviewed and accepted for oral and poster presentation at the 3 days conference, which were divided into three parallel sessions. Abstracts cover a wide spectrum of topics that represented the truly multidisciplinary nature of the field. The present issue of IJPC is the collection of abstracts presented as paper, posters, and lectures delivered. On behalf of scientific committee, I extend my warmest thanks to all the authors for their interest, enthusiasm, and timely submission of their abstracts and lecture write-ups and participation in this mega event of more than 600 delegates.