| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
President, PM commend AAPI's work in India Posted: Thursday, January 24, 2008, 02:14 am EST New Delhi: President of India Pratibha Devisingh Patil and Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh commended the work of American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) for its attempt to provide health care to villages and improve the medical curriculum.
Dr. Hemant Patel, AAPI President, who was in India in connection with the first-ever Indo-US Health Summit organized by AAPI last month held discussions with both the prime minister and president and briefed them about the active role played by AAPI in India.
Dr. Manmohan Singh told Dr. Patel that he is aware of the good work done by AAPI in India for a long time and assured his government's help in achieving the goal of health for all. The prime minister told Dr. Patel that AAPI has a greater role to play in view of its members' rich and varied experience and expertise that are now available for the benefit of common man in India. He spoke on the challenges ahead and told the AAPI delegation that his government had decided to increase three-fold the budget for health care in the 11th Plan.
Dr. Singh said he had discussions with the Planning Commission on the need to increase expenditure on health care. The government was committed to improve health care and priority would be given to disease prevention and education, the prime minister added.
Dr. Hemant Patel told the prime minister about the key role played by AAPI on the Capitol Hill to persuade Bush administration on Indo-US nuclear deal. Toward this end, AAPI along with Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans and AAHOA had convened a meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to impress upon the administration on the need to get overwhelming support from key panels of the US.
Dr. Patel briefed the president at the Rashtrapathi Bhavan and told her that AAPI value its long-standing association with India and feels justifiably proud to work in tandem on health care issues with ministries of the government and respected bodies such as MCI and IMA. The president showed keen interest on the project with the Ministry of Health to provide emergency medical services in India. Dr. Patel told the president that 43,000 physicians of Indian origin in the US are always eager to work for the betterment of the country as they are grateful to India for providing the best possible education.
Dr. Patel told the president that AAPI is committed to working with Indian doctors to improve health care. In this connection, he said AAPI had organized a mammoth first-ever Indo-US Healthcare Summit in New Delhi in partnership with Indian Medical Association and the Medical Council of India in which over 350 physicians from India and about 85 physicians who have specially flown in from the US attended.
Dr. Patel told both the president and the prime minister the movement to train healthcare workers to screen the population for major ailments in an institutional framework stemming from a dynamic public private partnership. AAPI will train health care workers soon in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar.
Dr. Patel said the trainees will be trained in screening the hapless rural population. AAPI has identified six major diseases that require immediate attention such as diabetes, cardio vascular diseases, cervical and prostate cancer and mental health. Each disease control team will have a team leader from AAPI, We will work to identify the issues on hand and how to tackle them effectively," he told the president and the prime minister.
Dr. Patel said that AAPI doctors are not coming to India to preach or impart knowledge, but to learn and work hand in hand with our fellow medical fraternity. Our aim is not to show off our knowledge but genuinely share our skills and expertise for the benefit of our brethren who need urgent medical care on priority basis, he told the head of the state and the constitutional head.
He explained that AAPI has also drawn up a road map for the next five years. The action plan includes recommendations to improve the medical school curriculum in India on par with the US and other advanced nations and improving medical tourism. AAPI would also collaborate with the pharma industry of India and assist them in improving R and D facilities.
Dr. Hemant Patel was invited by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs to address the plenary on Social Development Challenges in India: Health and Education that was moderated by Prof Deepak Nayyar, Member, Knowledge Commission, and former Vice Chancellor, University of Delhi.
Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Government of India delivered the key-note address. Dr. Patel said that their project for improving the health sector in rural areas is set to kick off in April following the signing of a MoU with the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs.
Patel said they were negotiating with the health ministry to sign an agreement for co-operation in the field of emergency care and trauma. Chest medicine specialist Hemant Patel and his colleagues from the AAPI have offered their services to the health ministry to improve the state of trauma care in medical colleges and on national highways.
"India lacks advanced emergency and trauma services of the kind available in the US. We believe we can make a significant difference in this area," Patel said. AAPI members will provide guidelines for trauma care, outlining procedures to stabilize an accident victim on site and transport the person to a health centre, and assist in identifying equipment for trauma centers.
Dr. Patel highlighted AAPI's role in improving the medical education medical education and connectivity of physicians of Indian origin in America with villages in India. He said taking forward their commitment to help India improve healthcare in rural areas, AAPI will be launching two pilot projects in Bihar and Andhra Pradesh. Instead of focusing only on improvement of primary healthcare as committed under a memorandum of understanding signed Jan 7 during the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas - the annual conclave of the Indian Diaspora - with the government, AAPI has decided to expand the scope of its work to help in early detection of diseases that are major killers in the country. "We have selected six specific areas - carcinoma of cervix, carcinoma of prostate, heart diseases, diabetes, deafness at birth and emergency medical system (EMS)," Patel said.
(Issued by AAPI)
|
|
View Comment (0)
|
|
