title: Palliative care in India: current progress and future needs.
abstract: Despite its limited coverage, palliative care has been present in India for about 20 years. Obstacles in the growth of palliative care in India are too many and not only include factors like population density, poverty, geographical diversity, restrictive policies regarding opioid prescription, workforce development at base level, but also limited national palliative care policy and lack of institutional interest in palliative care. Nonetheless we have reasons to be proud in that we have overcome several hurdles and last two decades have seen palpable changes in the mindset of health care providers and policy makers with respect to need of palliative care in India. Systematic and continuous education for medical staff is mandatory, and a major break-through for achieving this purpose would be to increase the number of courses and faculties in palliative medicine at most universities.
authors: Department of Radiotherapy and Oncology, Regional Cancer Centre, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
authors: Divya
authors: D
authors: Khosla
authors: Firuza D
authors: FD
authors: Patel
authors: Suresh C
authors: SC
authors: Sharma
keywords: Challenges; Education; Hospice; India; Palliative care; Perspectives; Research