Through a new series of online talks, we aim to explore the vital role Hindu chaplaincy can play in healthcare today. In the UK, the need for Hindu chaplains in hospitals is growing rapidly. At the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies (OCHS), we carried out an informal survey of some of the country’s largest hospitals. Every single one told us the same thing: the demand for spiritual care far exceeds their current capacity.

Abha Mehndiratta is a paediatrician with a Diploma in Child Health (DCH) and a Diplomate of National Board (DNB) in Paediatrics, a public health practitioner with a Master’s in Public Health (MPH) from Harvard University as a Fulbright scholar, and an Improvement Advisor (IA) certified by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI).

Currently, she serves as a Non-Resident Fellow at the Center for Global Development and is an advisor to the AIIMS (Delhi) Humanities in Medicine Initiative. Furthermore, she is an IHI faculty and has supported quality improvement projects in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nepal, Singapore, and Taiwan. Prior to this, she worked as a consultant for organisations such as the National Institute for Health & Care Excellence (NICE) UK, the World Bank, and Imperial College London.

Dr M. R. Rajagopal is an Indian palliative care physician (anesthesiologist) and professor referred to as the ‘father of palliative care in India in honour of his significant contribution to the palliative care scene in India.

Rajagopal is the Founder Chairman of Pallium India, a palliative care non-governmental organisation formed in 2003 and based in Kerala, India.

Rajagopal was the prime mover in the creation of the National Program for Palliative Care (NPPC) by the Ministry of Health of the Government of India.

His advocacy has contributed to the amendment of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act of India in 2014 and in its implementation—a critical step in reducing needless suffering and allowing millions to access pain relief.