Written by: Prashant Kumar, MD, MBA, FICCM, FSNCC (Hon); Kapil Zirpe, MD, FICCM, FSNCC; Claude Hemphill, MD, MAS; Masao Nagayama, MD, PhD, FAAN, FACP, FNCS; Saurabh Anand, MBBS, MD; M Radhakrishnan, MBBS, MD; Yash Javeri, DA, FICCM

The Asia Oceania Chapter of the Neurocritical Care Society (NCS) celebrated World Coma Day 2025 with an engaging webinar featuring distinguished experts from across the continent. The webinar served as a platform for discussions about the Curing Coma Campaign (CCC) and a range of advancements in coma management.

The session was opened by Dr. Prashant Kumar (India), who welcomed all the participants and introduced the esteemed panel of dignitaries. The event commenced with an insightful talk by Dr. Claude Hemphill, who discussed the CCC’s background, ongoing activities, and overall progress. He emphasized the importance of collaboration across various sectors to enhance patient outcomes and advance research in coma care.

Following this, Dr. Masao Nagayama (Japan) delivered a presentation on “Crisis Management of Acute Coma at the Onset.” His discussion underscored the significance of early recognition of critical risk factors and a coordinated response from multidisciplinary teams at different healthcare levels. His insights laid the groundwork for a broader discussion on effective crisis management in coma care, which was further elaborated upon by Dr. Prashant Kumar in his remarks.

The session continued with a panel discussion moderated by Dr. Kapil Zirpe, Chair of the NCS Asia Oceania Chapter. The expert panel included  Dr. Claude Hemphill (SF, USA), Dr. Saurabh Anand (India), Dr. Lina Laxmana (Philippine), and Dr. M. Radhakrishnan (India). The theme of the discussion was “Understanding COMA – LMICs’ Perspectives”. Key topics addressed included contemporary biomarkers for assessing consciousness; challenges faced by countries like India in achieving meaningful outcomes in coma care; barriers to effective coma management in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs); and proposed measures to enhance the success of the CCC in LMICs.

The session concluded with a vote of thanks by Dr. Yash Javeri, who expressed gratitude to NCS for their initiative in bringing together experts from diverse regions to collaborate with each other on the advancement of coma care. He emphasized the importance of continued engagement and knowledge-sharing to improve patient outcomes globally.

Overall, World Coma Day 2025 successfully fostered a multinational exchange of ideas and reinforced the collective goal of improving coma management and awareness across the world, especially in the Asia-Oceania region.

Note: Headshots are available for six of the seven authors at time of publication due to system limitations. We’d also like to thank Yash Javeri, DA, FICCM, for his valuable contributions as a co-author.