• Seema Mishra, Swagata Biswas, and Sushma Bhatnagar.
• Department of Onco-Anaesthesia and Palliative Medicine, Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
• Indian J Palliat Care. 2020 Jun 1; 26 (Suppl 1): S130-S141.

AbstractWorld is facing a pandemic recently due to the outbreak of COVID-19 infection. Cancer has been identified as one of the major comorbidities which cause more severe disease due to COVID-19 infection. Moreover, there are several resource limitations and restrictions to avail the standard oncological health facilities due to robust measures taken for infection control. In this situation, palliative care in cancer patients deserves special attention. Their symptom management, psychological, social, cultural needs tremendously increase during the epidemic. Thus, we need to recognize the unique palliative care needs of cancer patients during pandemic and formulate the plan to maintain continuity of services. Triaging systems are essential tools for proper resource allocation during a pandemic. Therefore, we suggest triaging tools for emergency in hospital palliative care services: community-based palliative care and end of life care for cancer patients. Incorporation of newer technologies and identifying the potential resources are the other key components of the preparedness strategy.Copyright: © 2020 Indian Journal of Palliative Care.

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