ELNEC INDIA

When a person is given a diagnosis of a life-threatening condition, the family is often told, “There is nothing more we can do”, leaving the family unspeakably devastated. Yet in truth, there is much that can be done with palliative care. There is a great need for increased awareness and access to palliative care in India. In India the physician to patient ratio is 1:2000, while the nurse to patient ratio is 1:800. Considering this low doctor-patient ratio, it will be best to strengthen the integrated approach where nurses and doctors really work together as a team to provide palliative care. First step to this would be to empower nurses by educating them on principles of palliative care. If nurses at the bedside, in outpatient clinics ,in the community and in home care  can be provided with palliative care education and if they could be made to understand their invaluable place in the interdisciplinary team,  access to care will be increased greatly, care and follow up will improve, palliative care will become  more available, sustainable and complete.