Division of Pediatric Emergency, Critical care, Pulmonology & Allergic Disorders, Department of Pediatrics at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital organized a 3-day International conference on Childhood allergies from 8th to 10th March 2019 at its premises. Over 30 faculties and more than 100 delegates from across the globe participated in the event. Dr Harsh Vardhan, Honorable minister of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India graced the scientific event as ‘Chief guest’. He released a book titled ‘Allergy in a Nutshell’ and officially announced the start of ‘Diploma in Pediatric Allergy & Asthma’ (DPAA), first of its kind diploma course in pediatric allergies. Dr D S Rana, Chairman, Board of management, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital was the ‘Guest of Honor’.
Dr Harsh Vardhan highlighted the growing allergic disorders in the country and stressed on increasing need of more training and educational activities at national platform. He also emphasized the importance of incorporation of allergy education in the medical curriculum. He congratulated Sir Ganga Ram Hospital for its commitment towards quality health care. Dr Rana congratulated Pediatric department for upbringing such an important key area and their commitment for educating the medical community in the right direction.
The 3-day program covered various types of allergy manifestations including asthma, rhinitis, skin and food allergies, human-environment interactions, newer diagnostic methods like skin test and impulse oscillometry as well as allergy treatment with immunotherapy.
Dr Anil Sachdev, Consultant Pediatric intensivist & Pulmonologist, spoke about opening of Pediatric Allergy & Pulmonology Lab at the hospital. This lab has been inaugurated with the aim to efficiently manage patients with asthma and allergies and to achieve excellence in the field through innovations, training and research activities. New allergy testing and novel pulmonary function assessment tools are available in this lab.
Dr Neeraj Gupta, Consultant Pediatric intensivist and allergy specialist at SGRH, author of ‘Allergy in a Nutshell’, elaborated on the key areas of current allergy practice and his literary search and experiences have been summarized in the book. It will be useful for students and practitioners. ‘Diploma in Pediatric Allergy & Asthma’, a distant learning course focusing on training of medical practitioners, is starting in collaboration with International Asthma Services, USA.
