Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is an essential part of care for patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD that reduces hospital admissions and improves the quality of life. Despite these benefits, CR is grossly underutilized across the globe. In a country like India, where the burden of disease is high and the economic impact of the disease considerable, it is important to utilize cost effective interventions to supplement existing care to minimize secondary complications. A recent survey from around the world found that India is ranked among the lowest in ability to provide CR. Among the low middle income countries, India fares better than some other, but in India, ability to deliver and meet the demand is greatly disproportionate. This has been seen in a review of CR, which found only a limited number of programs in India.

Various barriers to CR have been thought to contribute to the lack of CR in India, one of them being the lack of referrals. Since, CR requires an integrated approach, a better understanding of factors limiting referral to CR requires further exploration. The benefits of CR are focused are seen for mental health and overall benefits. However, studies focusing on the effects of CR on multimorbidity are limited. Therefore, in an effort to better understand why CR is not being utilised adequately and to determine whether multimorbidity poses any challenges to CR, this study is being carried out through a qualitative methodology on 30-60 CR professionals (approximately 10-20 eeach of cardiologists, nurses and physiotherapists)