The International Conference on Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine and 7th IACP conference was held in Lucknow from 6th-10 march,2013

The meeting was supported by American Academy of Cerebral Palsy, World Federation of Neurorehabiliation, European Pediatric Neurology Society, International Child Neurology Association,Pediatric Orthopaedic society of India and All India Occupational Therapists Association. Scientific committee consisted of 20 faculties from all parts of the globe with Dr freeman miller as its  International Chair and Dr G Shashikala as its Indian chair.

There were India total 550 registrations with more than 125 participants from more than 40 countries of the world giving it a truly international flavor, the meeting was organized by the R.P.SHAH Memorial Trust for Children with Disabilities and its medical director Dr vipul shah  was the organizing secretary.The Meeting was recognized by Medical Council of India,All india Occupational Therapists Association and Indian Association of Physiotherapists for CME  credits.

On the 6th and 7th march there were in total 12 preconference workshops which were attended by 200 delegates, this included workshop on Communication and Play, Surgery or Botulin Toxin for Upper Limb,Gait Analysis,Early Diagnosis and Scales in Cerebral palsy,Early Referral and Early Intervention Workshop,Hands on workshop on the importance of Stance phase,Paper based rehabilitation technology,Therapeutic Handling Workshop,Felite afo`s workshop and SPIO workshop.All preconference workshops were well received by the delegates however for the organizing team the high point  of the preconference workshops was the hands on Felite Afo`s workshop where the delegates and the faculty Nancy Hylton from USA continued late till 8 pm interacting and doing hands on training.Close to 20 parents were part of the early diagnosis workshop and therapeutic handling workshop and learnt from the esteemed faculty about correct treatment and handling techniques.

The conference had 7 parallel halls running which included a separate hall in which Indian federation of Neuro rehabilitation was running its parallel sessions ,this was headed by Dr Nirmal Surya from Mumbai its president.On day 1 ie 8th march there was a  plenary session named  as Dr P .K.Mulla Feroz Memorial Lecture Series   where lectures were  delivered by Dr Hans Forssberg, President, European Academy of Childhood Diseases, Dr Anirudh Purohit- President Indian Academy of Cerebral Palsy ,Dr Lieven Lagae,President European Pediatric Neurology Society ,Dr Stephene Clarke- President, World Federation of Neurorehabilitation ,Dr Anil Srivastava,President AIOTA, Dr Soniya Nityanand,Head stem cell research unit,SGPGI,Lucknow and Diane Damiao,Past President,American Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine. The  evening was marked by a gala dinner where a troupe performed kathak ,the traditional dance of Lucknow which was  very well received followed by Dinner for the participants.
ON 9TH March there were plenary lectures by Dr Leeland Albright,USA ,Dr satyendra Phaswal ,Dr Freeman  miller USA, Dr Sarojini Budden, USA , Dr Antigone Papavasileiou,Greece  , Sunil AgrawalUSA  and Nancy Hylton,USA.In addition the most amazing part of the meeting from Indian perspective was the start of the meeting at 7 am sharp with breakfast sessions( there were 20 breakfast sessions during the meeting) and the intense 2 hour duration instructional courses( there were 30 instructional courses).In the evening there was a celebration dinner in which Talaash band from Mumbai enthralled the audience .

On the 10th of march  Reaching for The Stars which is the biggest parent lead charity in USA made a presentation in  the plenary session with Dr Vipul Shah who will head the Asian initiative of this organization making the presentation on behalf of Cynthia Gray and Micheal Kutcher.The meeting ended with the valedictory session in which Dr freeman miller and Dr Shashikala were honored on stage by Mr K K Shah the patron of the R.P.SHAH Memorial Trust and by Mr  Ashok Shah its Chairman. Mr K K Shah also announced the Geeta Shah Memorial prize worth Rs 25,000 Rs ie USD 500$ which was won by Erika Williams from Australia for her services towards the cause of children with cerebral palsy in Cambodia. The meeting dispersed with a closing statement by Dr Vipul shah and promise to conduct a bigger and better meeting in Goa in 3 years time.

SIGNED-

Dr Vipul Shah
MEDICAL DIRECTOR
R.P.SHAH MEMORIAL TRUST FOR CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES
indiancerebralpalsy.com
dr.vipulshah@yahoo.com
vipulshak@rediffmail.com