Neurological disorders are no longer a concern of a small section of the population — they are one of the most pressing emerging health-care challenges of our time. A 2025 WHO Global Status Report on neurological conditions warned that more than 40 per cent of the world’s population lives with a neurological condition. In a nation with as vast and varied a population as India’s, with a rapidly ageing demographic, this is a matter of urgency.
What makes the situation more worrying is the lack of equitable access to care. In India, neurologists and specialised neurological care is generally available in big cities. This often leads to late diagnosis and treatment for those suffering from brain disorders.
This is one of the starkest inequities in Indian healthcare today. The WHO report noted that India’s neurologist-to-patient ratio is nearly 80 times worse than that of high-income nations — not merely a statistical gap, but a lived reality for millions. The scarcity has created vast “neurology desert”, regions where patients have little or no access to specialist care despite suffering from conditions that are often treatable or manageable if caught in time.
Most neurologists in India are based in metropolitan centres such as Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. For patients in smaller towns and rural districts, seeing a neurologist can mean long travel, long waits, or settling for non-specialist care. That geographic divide has a direct bearing on outcomes.
Timely diagnosis and continuous monitoring are critical in conditions such as stroke, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, dementia and balance disorders. Delayed intervention may also lead to increased chances of preventable disability. In areas where specialist care is not easily available, patients generally turn to local physicians or general health services, which can further delay advanced neurological assessment and management.
The answer lies in decentralising neurological care. India needs a district-wise model built on trained neurologists, tele-neurology networks, an organised referral system, and technology-enabled monitoring — one that brings specialist expertise closer to where patients actually live.
At Marengo Asia International Institute of Neuro & Spine (MAIINS), this is a principle we are actively working to extend beyond our tertiary centres — through structured referral partnerships and tele-neurology consults designed to connect patients in underserved areas with specialist care, rather than requiring them to travel to it.
Technology has a critical role to play – not only in treatment but also in early detection and prevention. Home-monitoring solutions, including wearable and sensor-based fall-detection systems for the elderly, illustrate how technology can flag warning signs well before a crisis.
Falls among the elderly are often dismissed as isolated incidents, but they can be among the earliest indicators of neurological problems — Parkinson’s disease, stroke-related balance impairment, neuropathy, or other movement disorders. Early-warning technologies of this kind can identify risk sooner, creating a window for intervention before complications set in and providing a continuous link between patients, caregivers and doctors — particularly for the elderly and those in areas with limited specialist access.
Expanding urban tertiary care centres alone cannot be the future of neurological healthcare in India. The country needs a more inclusive model — one where specialist knowledge is actively shared with, and extended into, local communities.
Access to neurological care in every district is a public health necessity. A decentralised, technology-enabled approach can build a healthcare system in which neurological disorders are detected earlier, managed better, and treated more equitably.
This Doctor’s Day, the focus must be on strengthening healthcare systems that allow every patient to reach the right doctor — irrespective of geography.