All India Institute of Medical Sciences,New Delhi.(Inset: Dr Athira R)
New Delhi :
Dr Athira R recently won the Sorel Catherine Freymann Book award for the ‘Best Post Graduate Student in Pediatrics’ at the AIIMS.
Lov Verma, the Union Secretary Health and Family Welfare, has presented the award to Dr Athira on the occasion of the 59th institute day of AIIMS, New Delhi commemorated on September 24th, 2014.
Dr Athira, hailing from Palakkad district, has published articles in International journals. She had also secured the best outgoing student medal in MBBS from Govt Kilpauk Medical College, Chennai.
source: http://www.english.manoramaonline.com / OnManorama / Home> My News / by Staff Correspondent , OnManorama / Tuesday – September 30th, 2014
‘Face of Palliative Care’ in India, Dr. M.R Rajagopal. Photo: Wikipedia
Four advocates for Human Rights, Dr. M. R. Rajagopal from India, the Founder Chairman of ‘Pallium India’, Shin Dong-Hyuk from North Korea, Father Bernard Kinvi from the Central African Republic, Arwa Othman from Yemen have been chosen for the ‘Dr Alison Des Forges Award’ in 2014.
The award is named after Dr. Alison Des Forges, senior adviser at Human Rights Watch for almost two decades, who died in a plane crash in New York State on February 12, 2009. Dr Alison was the world’s leading expert on Rwanda, the 1994 genocide and its aftermath.
‘Dr. Alison Des Forges Award’ will be presented at the ‘Voices for Justice Annual Dinners’ in 20 cities worldwide. The first dinner will be held in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara in November, where Dr Rajagopal will be honoured. The others will be presented with the award at various venues around the world.
Shin Dong-Hyuk, who was a victim of the brutality and starvation prevalent in North Korea’s forced labor camps has worked tirelessly to alert the world to these horrors since his escape in 2005.
The others recipients of the award include Father Bernard Kinvi, a Catholic priest who saved the lives of hundreds of Muslim civilians targeted during sectarian violence in the Central African Republic; Arwa Othman, a leading advocate working to end child marriage and promote equality for women in Yemen.”
Dr M R Rajagopal, a clinician, academic and an activist for human rights is the ‘Face of Palliative Care’ in India. He has been working to promote Palliative care in India as a ‘Human Right’ and to ensure that the patient has the right to be relieved of their pain and die with dignity.
He developed the world’s most successful Community-based Palliative Care Programme, ‘Pallium India’ and he is responsible in convincing the Indian Government to make morphine available for patients.
His main contributions over the past 20 years have been the formation of the ‘National Programme in Palliative Care in India (NPPPC) in 2012 and in bringing the Parliament of India to amend the harsh ‘Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act of 1985 (NDPS), and the amendment was passed in 2014. ‘Pallium India’ aims to stop the suffering of millions in India who are denied of Pain relief and medical care.
They encourage volunteers and the well-wishers to help them in their endeavour to achieve this goal! Dr Rajagopal believes that patients should not suffer from treatable pain, which is in fact a violation of human rights.
source: http://www.english.manoramaonline.com / OnManorama / Home> My News / by Liz Menon / Saturday – October 04th, 2014
