Indian physicians aim to export medical advances

A charitable program led by Indian-American physicians will bring medical advances to India and provide training for resident physicians.

By Bonnie Booth, amednews staff. April 3, 2000.

America's 33,000 practicing physicians of Indian origin will get an opportunity to help physicians in their homeland learn the latest in medical advances under a program recently initiated by the American Assn. of Physicians of Indian Origin Charitable Foundation.

The foundation has partnered with the Hinduja Foundation, a New York-and London-based philanthropic organization, to provide hands-on courses at the Hinduja National Hospital in New Delhi to doctors from all over India. And officials are hoping America's Indian physicians will volunteer between two weeks and three months of their time to teach the courses.

Navin C. Shah, MD, a Maryland urologic surgeon and past president of AAPICF, said the agreement between AAPICF and the Hinduja Foundation gives Indian physicians practicing in America an opportunity to give something of value to their first homeland.

"We want Indian physicians and patients to be able to get timely updates on technology and treatment on a continual basis," Dr. Shah said. "They should not be hampered because of a delay in technology."

The initial focus of the volunteer program will be in cardiology, neurology, radiology, anesthesiology, transplantation, orthopedics and oncology.

Dr. Shah said physicians who participate in the program would receive a $1,000 grant for travel to India. Volunteers are responsible for the cost of lodging and transportation once they arrive there. But he added that many of the association's 33,000 physicians already spend time in India each year.

Funding for a dozen clinics

"This is the first time we have opened a center to train doctors in India," he said. "Usually we'll go and give a seminar. Now we have an institution where physicians can go to learn."

All payments visiting physicians receive for treating patients at the New Delhi hospital will be returned to the foundation, which will use the money to help fund the 12 charitable clinics it runs in India. Dr. Shah said the foundation spends about $200,000 per year to run the clinics.

The program also will benefit Indian-American medical students and residents who will have the opportunity to do a rotation at the Hinduja National Hospital. Dr. Shah said the rotation would offer new learning challenges and give them experience that could be useful in treating American patients in their future practices.

AAPICF leaders hope the partnership will lead to more centers of excellence throughout India.

This is not the first American partnership for the Hinduja Foundation. This spring marks completion of the first student group in a two-year graduate program in hospital management created by staff at Johns Hopkins Medical Center and operated in India with foundation funding.

"This is another example of taking American technology and using it to benefit the motherland," Dr. Shah said. "We are very proud of it."