The 3rd national seminar on ‘Management of Cancer Centers’ was held on 31st January and 1st February 2014, in collaboration with the Institute of Management Studies, Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya, Indore.

Shri Sanjay Dubey (IAS), Commissioner, Indore Division, was the Chief Guest at the inaugural session that was also attended by the Vice Chancellor of Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya, Dr. DP Singh, and the Director of Institute of Management Studies, Dr. PN Mishra.

Speaker of the inaugural session, Dr. Nandu Laud; Course Director, Dr. Nagraj Huilgol; and Honorary Secretary of the Indore Cancer Foundation, Dr. Digpal Dharkar also took part in the inaugural programme.

The technical sessions on 31st January commenced with a lecture by Padma Bhushan Dr. Nandkishore Laud on “Service Excellence in Hospitals”. The other sessions that day were:

• “Ethics in Health Delivery System” by Mr. Narayan Gad, Ex-CEO of Panacea Healthcare, Mumbai.
• “Generation of revenue and Cost Management” by Dr. Pandurang Bhujang, Medical Director, Sri Hurkisondas Nurrotumdas Hospital and Research center, Mumbai.
• “Public-Private Partnership” by Mr. M R Sivaraman, former IAS officer, Chennai.
• “Accessing Funding in health care” by Dr. Suresh Verma, Medical Superintendent & Head of Palliative Care, Indian Institute of Head and Neck Oncology, Indore.
• “Cancer burden in India and strategies for cancer control. Measuring cancer burden: resources and registries” by Dr. Rajesh Dikshit, Professor, Department of Epidemiology, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai
• “Setting up a Comprehensive Cancer Care Center”- This topic was introduced by Dr. Nagraj Huilgol. Dr. Vandana Jain, Head, Department of Radiation Oncology, Indian Institute of Head and Neck Oncology, Indore, spoke on “Setting up a Radiotherapy Department”, Dr. Gautam Bhattacharjee, Radiation Oncologist, Saroj Gupta Cancer Center and Research Institute, Kolkata, spoke on “Palliative services, Rehabilitation, Physiotherapy & Counseling services” and “CSSD & waste management”. “Challenges of managing a cancer center” was discussed by Dr. Manoj Pandey, Surgical Oncologist and Medical Director, Bhopal Memorial Hospital, Bhopal. Dr. Nagraj Huilgol spoke on “Setting up a research facility”.

The technical sessions on the second day included the following lectures:

• A panel discussion on “Outreach programmes- Need and Methodology”. This was moderated by Dr. Virendra J Vyas, Head of Department, Radiation Oncology, MGIMS, Wardha. The panelists included Dr. Digpal Dharkar, Surgical Oncologist and Honorary Secretary, Indian Institute of Head and Neck Oncology, Indore, Dr. Baldev Dembani, Consultant General Surgeon, Choithram Hospital, Indore, Dr. Vandana Jain and Dr. Suresh Verma.
• Narration of “The story of the Indian Institute of Head and Neck Oncology, Indore: What it takes to build a charitable cancer Institute” was the next topic which was elaborated upon by Dr. Digpal Dharkar.
• “Challenges of managing highly skilled professionals” by Mr. Sharad Saxena, Executive Director, Operations and HR, HT Media Ltd, New Delhi.
• “Procuring technology” by Dr. Nagraj Huilgol.
• “Pharmacy” by Dr. Gautam Bhattacharjee.
• “Referral Fees & Captive Marketing” by Dr. Nagraj Huilgol.

The event also included poster and quiz competitions for the participants. The topics given for the poster competition were “Ethical marketing in healthcare sector” or “Tobacco, alcohol & cancer”. Among the 26 posters that were submitted, 4 best were selected by 2 of the faculty. After the conclusion of all the lectures, the 4 selected were given 8 minutes to elaborate on their poster followed
by 2 minutes of discussion. Thereafter, the teams, of the 2 posters adjudged the best, were given certificates and prizes.

This was followed by a written quiz competition with questions related to the topics covered during the 2-day seminar.

240 participants attended the 2-day seminar.

The programme concluded with a valedictory function. Dr. BC Chapparwal, ex Vice Chancellor of the Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya, was the chief guest, Dr. P N Mishra, Prof. Rajiv Gupta, Dr. Digpal Dharkar and Dr. Virendra Vyas were also present.