American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI), a global body of Indian doctors based in the US recently organised a forum and discussed about their upcoming 9th annual conference on ‘Global Health Summit’ (AAPI GHS 2015). The summit is slated to be held from January 2 – 5, 2015 in Mumbai and aims to measure the current healthcare delivery system in Maharashtra and improve it.
This summit will be held in collaboration with the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs and Union Ministry of Health, the Government of Maharashtra, several participating physician associations and the Mumbai Municipal Corporation. It is expected to witness participation from some of the world’s renowned physicians, community leaders and healthcare industry stalwarts. Various medical associations in India as well as healthcare delivery organisations from UK, Canada and Australia are likely to be partners of the summit.
Dr Jayesh Lele, Secretary, Indian Medical Association; Dr Jayesh Shah, AAPI President; Dr Ravi Jahagirdar, President-Elect, AAPI and Anwar Feroz, Honorary Advisor of AAPI have graced the occasion and discussed about the upcoming summit agenda. Presently, the local organising committee is in the process of drafting the topics for the conference and are likely to publish them in the public domain before March 2014.
The AAPI experts had met with the Maharashtra State Health Minister Suresh Shetty in Mumbai in July 2013 and had agreed to work on the rural healthcare system.
Key points that were discussed:
- First release of rapid information transfer system to remote sites in Maharashtra State
- Clinical workshops on site with USA certification for medical students and residents
- CEO Forum to provide input from healthcare industry to medical and policy making bodies
- Public Private Partnership
Further important points discussed include:
- Arrive at a consensus and identify three to four key area for collaboration based on needs
- Develop and roll out implementation plans for accomplishing the key objectives with selected initiatives (skills training, education, screening / diagnostics, and /or philanthropic activities with NGO)
- Expand the pilot based on lessons learned and outcomes
- Focus efforts on three key areas:
a. Support and strengthen existing 16 AAPI charitable clinics in India
b. Expand and strengthen AAPI Sewak Project (diabetes screening and testing)
c. Successfully launch phase One of SwasthIndia web portal in collaboration with British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO, UK), Canadian Association of Physicians of Indian Heritage (CAPIH, Canada), Global Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (GAPIO) and Govt. Of India, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare - Explore potential of expansion and enhancement of immunisation by collaborating with Indian Academy of Pediatrics and Industry partners (IAP)
Dr Jayesh Shah, President, AAPI said, “Physicians of Indian origin have earned a name for themselves globally in the field of medicine. Since our first summit in India, we have achieved several tangibles including the engagement of all notable sections of Indian government, and a ground breaking start of an alliance between AAPI, IMA and MCI. We are proud that through the platform of AAPI, we are able to share our expertise with medical professionals in India to improve healthcare delivery and outcomes in the country.”
According to Dr Ravi Jahagirdar, President-Elect, AAPI, “AAPI aims to associate with healthcare organisations and institutions in Maharashtra with an aim to transform healthcare delivery, right up to rural areas. Today’s discussion has been extremely insightful. The outcome of these discussions, clubbed with our learnings and achievements from our previous summits, will help us implement the projects for Maharashtra soon and present heartening results in our 2015 summit.”
The Mumbai summit will reportedly include four plenary sessions, and six skill enhancement hands on training workshops. There will also be symposiums on public-private partnerships and a high level CEO forum, in addition to research activities and poster sessions, and a ceremony to recognise contributions in the basic and applied sciences.
Though Mumbai has a larger number of hospitals and better healthcare reach it still lacks in the areas of trauma care, robotic surgery and cancer screening programme. Hence, AAPI aims to bridge this gap in Mumbai.
AAPI has invited NGOs, public-private-partnerships as well as private institutions to work together. The association has also welcomed ideas which can be lead and initiated later on. It has plans to run few pilot projects in the villages of the Maharashtra and highlight its success stories during 9th annual conference AAPI GHS 2015.
It recently concluded its 8th annual conference, Global Health Summit 2014 in Ahmedabad held from January 2-5, 2014. It was attended by over 1100 doctors from India and abroad. The Summit was addressed by Ghulam Nabi Azad, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare; Vayalar Ravi, Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs; Dr Abdul Kalam, Former President of India and Narendra Modi, Chief Minister, Gujarat State.
EH News Bureau
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