By Ramesh Unnikrishnan, MSc, RT, RRT
2015 AARC International Fellow, RT Department Head, Assistant Professor-Senior Scale

The faculty and students in the department of respiratory care at Manipal University were very busy earlier this year, not only attending to their RT program, but also attending seminars and providing community outreach training programs in Basic Life Support (BLS), pulmonary function, and leadership. They met with the ICRC Governor for India as well.

Mr. Rajenda providing a lecture demonstration to nurses during the BLS training.

March 16-19: Faculty from the department of respiratory therapy and RT Bridge program students participated in a training program on basic and advanced pulmonary function testing at The Chest Research Foundation in Pune, Maharastra.

March 5: The department of respiratory therapy organized an Introductory Workshop on Leadership in collaboration with the 5th semester RT Bridge program Oman nationals. Faculties from the respiratory therapy department also participated in the program. Dr. B. Rajashekar, dean of the School of Allied Health Sciences, along with Dr. Krishna Y, were both present for and acknowledged the valedictory presentations.

February 16-18 & 23-24: The department of respiratory therapy conducted a BLS refresher program for 300 nurses of Kasturba Hospital in Manipal, Karnataka.

Ms. Anila works with nurses in small group instruction during the BLS course.

February 18-20: Professor Vijay Deshpande, MEd, RRT, FAARC, ICRC Governor for India, visited the Manipal campus and interacted with RT students and faculty. He presented a lecture to the students and met with faculty to discuss the future plans of the Indian Association of Respiratory Care (IARC). Prof. Deshpande also met IARC President Dr. Anitha Shenoy and discussed the future directions of the IARC and Indian Journal of Respiratory Care.