The Jeelani Drabu Palliative Care Programme, kindly funded by a donation from the Drabu family, is intended to support the development of palliative medicine as a speciality and palliative care, as an integral element of healthcare provision in the Jammu and Kashmir region and in Pakistan.
Following the successful delivery of a 1-week residential course in Lahore in 2019 and Karachi in 2025, we will be delivering a 3-month online training course for healthcare professionals who are working in the Jammu and Kashmir region.
The course content is evidence-based and peer-reviewed.
Summary of activities:
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3-month online certification course for Jammu and Kashmir – For healthcare workers based in the Jammu and Kashmir region. Recruitment will open soon. See below to get involved.
- 1-week residential course in Karachi – Delivered in 2025 in partnership with Aga Khan University. See below to learn more.
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1-week residential course in Lahore – Delivered in 2019 to 34 participants (22 doctors and 12 nurses). See below to learn more.
3-month online course: Jammu and Kashmir
We welcome applications from healthcare professionals working in Jammu and Kashmir (doctors and nurses) who are interested in developing their expertise in the practice of palliative care through an online modular course that can be undertaken according to their availability to participate. Participants will be able to work through the 15 modules at any time within a 3-month timeframe.
Each module concludes with a test of the learner's knowledge. At the end of all 15 modules, participants will have the opportunity to sit an exam and, if they pass, will receive an RCP certificate to demonstrate their achievement.
Course objectives include:
- Understand and apply the principles of palliative care in chronic and life-limiting illnesses.
- Identify the palliative care needs of patients and their families with cancer and non-cancer conditions.
- Identify palliative care needs in paediatric and geriatric populations.
- Assess and manage pain and other physical symptoms.
- Identify and manage issues that need specialised nursing interventions.
- Assess and manage psychological, emotional and social issues in patients with chronic and life-limiting illnesses.
- Communicate effectively and handle difficult conversations.
- Discuss goals of care and facilitate advanced care planning.
- Identify the needs of the dying person and support patients and their loved ones in the last hours of life.
- Identify and address the ethical and legal challenges in the limitation of life-sustaining treatment and end of life care.
How to apply
Applications will open soon. Send an email to global@rcp.ac.uk to be notified.
The course will become available to registered participants between September and November 2026.
Course Eligibility: doctors and nurses
Assessment: situational based MCQ
End of course assessment: January 2027
Certification by: the RCP on successful completion of the course
Criteria for certification: minimum 70% score on assessment
1-week residential course: Karachi
This course was delivered from 24–28 November 2025 and was attended by 29 participants, including 22 doctors and 7 nurses. A detailed account of the course will be published on this webpage in due course.
1-week residential course: Lahore
This course was delivered in 2019. 34 participants (22 doctors and 12 nurses) received training, which expanded their understanding of palliative care. In addition, it provided them with many useful skills to interact with patients and their families thus assisting in improving patient care and patient outcomes.
As a part of ensuring sustainability, the participants also received training on how to become effective educators, to support them to pass on the course learnings to others.
