**4. Things to be done to set up Home PAL**

Home PAL service can be set up in a quite simple manner. The following are a gist of activities to be performed to set up the home based palliative care [13].

Like any program to be launched, we need to conduct a need base evaluation for the home based palliative care. It will help us to identify the beneficiaries, their requirements and to check if we have enough logistics to support the program. Logistics will be in term of man, material, money and time.

Once the team or the institute is satisfied with the basic evaluation, competent authorities need to be involved, informed and necessary permissions need to be taken. There is a need for setting up a formal office for the Home PAL.

Now, the action plan needs to be framed, scanned, verified and edited. This includes the resource based evaluation and what all services should be included in the charter needs to be finalized.

The Home PAL team needs to be trained efficiently in palliative care. It would be best if a trained nurse and a trained doctor can be included in the team, to begin with. If not, the dedicated team needs to get trained from a dedicated training center of palliative care.

The goal of home based palliative care is to involve community volunteers in the team. So, the community volunteers needs to be identified and proper training needs to be undertaken. The resource based evaluation, as described earlier should include the financial requirement for purchasing the necessary supplies, transportation costs and salary of the Home PAL team.

In Home PAL, the team needs to travel to the homes of the patients, which will be away from the mother institute or hospital. So, the primary care team or health workers, both government and private, need to be contacted and should be included in the community based Home PAL team. It will help in emergency care and support to the ailing patient, in times, when the Home PAL team will not be available. Also, it will help in quicker diagnosis of any emergency and better management including referral to higher centers.

IEC (Information Education Communication) and BCC (Behavior Change Communication) has a great role to play in the success of the Home PAL program. It calls for involving the public health personals, both government and private, who work with the community of that locality. The media needs to be involved as well, for better propagation of the news and information of the Home PAL. Home PAL calls for a wider support and participation from the whole community including the villagers, students, political leaders and governmental staff, for the program to succeed in achieving what it aims to do.
