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American-Indian doctors to help improve primary health care

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: In an effort to improve the primary health care sector in India and strengthen the existing National Rural Health Mission, the Union Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) and the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) have signed a memorandum of understanding to work towards establishing knowledge partners, institutional partners and stakeholders to promote and implement primary health care pilot projects in various States across the country.

The pilot project under the programme will start on July 1 in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar where a network will be established to collect and analyse data of health and health care delivery system.

"The MOIA has established a working group in consultation with AAPI to help and oversee project implementation and have identified Andhra Pradesh and Bihar as stakeholder partner States that would partner in the pilot project. The first two-day meeting of the core group of the AAPI and MOIA was held in Delhi beginning this Monday to define the road map and timelines to implement the project," said MOIA Deputy Secretary T.Q. Mohammad, at a press conference here. The group will also work towards creating a group of primary care doctors to develop guidelines for the project.

"In the first phase of the four-year project, we aim to work in the area of early screening and detection of cervix and prostrate cancer, heart diseases, diabetes, diagnoses of deafness among children and establishing emergency medical services in selected States. The idea is to use the knowledge, skill and resources of AAPI and its members to improve primary health care in India starting with pilot projects and develop best practice guidelines for delivery of healthcare in the villages to be used by nurses and physicians. These guidelines would be evidence based to meet the needs of the Indian primary health care in the select pilot areas," said AAPI president Vijay N. Koli.

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