APSR Covid-19 symposium at NAPCON 2020
28 January 2021
NAPCON 2020, the 22nd Joint National Conference of Pulmonary Diseases of the National College of Chest Physicians (India) and Indian Chest Society, was organized this time by the National College of Chest Physicians (India) in its turn to host NAPCON. This was the first time to be held as a virtual conference due to the prevailing situation caused by COVID-19, from 27 to 31 January 2021. The conference was planned as virtual with a state-of-the-art scientific and workshop programme, rich in academic content, exceptional in diversity and an expert 460 national and 119 international faculty, designed to change to perspective of our day-to-day-clinical practice.
The conference was inaugurated on Wednesday 27th January 2021 at the hands of the Chief Guest Hon'ble Dr Harsh Vardhan Ji, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, Government of India and Guest of Honour the Hon'ble Dr Jitendra Singh Ji, Minister of state for NE region, Prime Minister's Office, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Department of Atomic Energy & Space, Government of India. A delegate snack-kit was dispatched to registered delegates on a first-come-first-served basis.
A total of 860 delegates attended the nine pre-conference workshops on Wednesday, 27 January 2021. For the first time, 19 international chest associations participated in the scientific deliberations of the conference and the scientific programme witnessed a record attendance of more than 1,000 delegates per day at different times in different halls.
The NCCP (I) and ICS orations witnessed record attendances of 469 and 426 attendees respectively. The best-attended session in the scientific programme was the APSR symposium on COVID-19 [see below] on 28 January 2021, with 468 attendees.
There were 1,002 abstracts submitted for the conference, out of which 367 were selected for oral presentation in the NCCP(I) & ICS Young Scientist Awards and twelve different categories of NAPCON 2020 award sessions, and the remaining on display as e-posters in the E-Poster Gallery.
A post-graduate quiz was organised on 30 January 2021. Virtual cultural programmes were broadcast on 28 and 30 January 2021 during the evening. The conference also hosted a Governing Council meeting and Annual General Body meeting of the National College of Chest Physicians (India) and the Indian Chest Society.
The unique design, layout and features of the virtual platform were appreciated by all national and overseas delegates, faculty and post-graduates alike. The highly successful and much-appreciated scientific deliberations of the conference concluded with the valedictory function on Sunday 31 January 2021.
The 22nd NAPCON 2020 has surpassed all records of previous conferences with a total of 4,321 delegate attendees and 1,002 abstracts submitted for presentation, setting a benchmark for other virtual conferences to follow and creating a milestone for conferences in the near future.
APSR Covid-19 symposium
This recording is available until 10 March 2021.
Download the 377-page conference souvenir programme here (PDF file, 19 MB) which includes several hundred abstracts.
The online APSR Symposium was held on 28 January 2021, 14:45-16:30 Indian Standard Time (IST) GMT +5:30.
Normally staged at the end of the year, NAPCON 2020 was held in January of the following year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The APSR Symposium included the following speakers from APSR en bloc societies. Further details and registration were shown at virtualnapcon2020.com.
- Clinical research on and trials for COVID-19 in Japan
- Measures to COVID-19 in Australia and New Zealand: Policy to guard against virus spreads
- The key to contain COVID-19: The Taiwan Model
Dr Shih-Chi Ku, MD, MPH
Director, Medical Intensive Care Unit and Respiratory Care Center, Department of Internal Medicine National Taiwan University Hospital
Taiwan Society of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine (TSPCCM) - How to build effective COVID-19 community communication in Indonesia
Dr Fathiyah Isbaniah, MD, PhD
Perhimpunan Dokter Paru Indonesia (PDPI)
Indonesian Society of Respirology (ISR) - How did Singapore overcome big wave of COVID-19?
Dr Adrian Chan
Consultant in Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Mount Elizabeth Hospital.
Secretary,
Singapore Thoracic Society (STS) - Dealing with COVID-19 Pandemic in Malaysia
Dr Syazatul Syakirin Sirol Aflah
Pulmonologist, Institute of Respiratory Medicine, Kuala Lumpur
Malaysian Thoracic Society (MTS) - Key Measures to Control the Big Second Wave of COVID-19 in Sri Lanka
Dr Bodhika Samarasekera
Consultant Respiratory Physician, District General Hospital, Gampaha, Sri Lanka
Joint secretary
Sri Lanka College of Pulmonologists (SLCP) - COVID-19 Response in Mongolia
- Additional measures to cope with the recent new wave of COVID-19 in Hong Kong
