Stroke program for India.

India is silently witnessing a stroke epidemic. There is an urgent need to develop a national program towards "Fighting Stroke". This program should be specific to our national needs. In order to recommend on who should lead an Indian fight-stroke program, we examined the published opinions of stroke clinicians and the official documents on stroke care training abroad. We identified the resources that already exist in India and can be utilized to develop a national fight-stroke program. Through a review of published literature, we noted different opinions that exist on who would best manage stroke. We found that because stroke is a cardiovascular disorder of the central nervous system, its management requires a multi-disciplinary approach involving clinicians with background not limited to neurology. India has very few neurologists trained in stroke medicine and they cannot care for all stroke patients of the country. We propose a mechanism that would quickly put in place a stroke care model relevant in Indian context. We recommend for tapping the clinical expertise available from existing pool of non-neurologist physicians who can be trained and certified in stroke medicine (Strokology). We have discussed an approach towards developing a national network for training and research in Strokology hoping that our recommendations would initiate discussion amongst stroke academicians and motivate the national policy makers to quickly develop an "Indian Fight Stroke Program."