AAPI members question direction organization is headed in and urge leadership to move forward and retrieve lost glory

Chicago : The 20th annual convention of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI), held in Chicago from June 26-30, attracted some Congressmen and a senator as well as policymakers and marked a turning point in the history of the organization.

The views of the members were echoed by the AAPI’s incoming president, Kiran Patel, who emphasized the need to chart a new course for the organization, calling it “an era of change.”

Physicians from across the United States gathered at the convention to discuss domestic healthcare issues, international philanthropy and medical charitable activities alongside terrorism and India-U.S. relations.

More than 4,000 people, including physicians and their families, students and residents, attended the convention at Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers, in five days of meetings peppered with an exhibition, a fashion show and Indian pop music and Bhangra performances.

At the vibrant general body meeting, members aired their grievances, questioned the direction the organization is headed in, and urged the leadership to move forward and retrieve the glory of five years ago when the then president Bill Clinton was chief guest in this very town — all signs that the AAPI remains a vital and democratic organization whose members seek an ever-active voice in its running.

The views of the members were echoed by the AAPI’s incoming president, Kiran Patel, who emphasized the need to chart a new course for the organization, calling it “an era of change.” Patel, a businessman-cum-cardiologist from Florida, declared on the last gala night dinner: “We must charge ahead with passion, we must listen and care... and we must link arms and move forward.” He added, “Our greatest strength is our unity.”

Much praise was heaped on AAPI by speakers like Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services Bobby Jindal, Ambassador-at-Large Bhishma Agnihotri, and the chief executive officer of the American Medical Association (AMA), Michael Maves, among others.

Meanwhile, the job of continuing medical education went on, as did the meetings of various alumni organizations that are the backbone of AAPI. Young physicians and medical students held parallel meetings on issues ranging from advocacy to terrorism.

AAPI’s accomplishments this last year include its Grievance Committee dealing with a larger number of discrimination complaints, getting delegate membership of the AMA, the ongoing diabetes among South Asians research study, and earthquake relief work in Gujarat. “We can’t prevent or predict disasters, but we can be prepared,” outgoing president Dr. S. ‘Jay’ Jayasankar said.

Issues such as centralized credentialing was necessary so that Indian-American physicians could move around the U.S. freely, Jayasankar said, and noted that the AMA had agreed to review work force policies that do not allow immigrant physicians into the country.

“There have been too many cases of discrimination this year,” Patel noted. “It may not be you who suffer from the sting of discrimination.... But it affects us all. When one is perceived as incapable based on our origin, it affects our image as a whole,” he contended. “This year we will ensure our political advocacy is effective. It is time for us to ask the lawmakers what is being done for Indian-American physicians, for South Asians, for India’s war against terrorism,” Patel asserted.

As for its charitable work, the outgoing president said, “AAPI was one of the first to go to Gujarat and will be the last to leave.”

“We have major responsibilities of continuing medical education for our Indian counterparts,” Navin Shah, past president told News India-Times. “We need more seminars and courses and these should be a priority.”

AAPI delivers medical equipment to India and members believe this activity must be conducted more aggressively.

Health care issues in the U.S. received significant attention in the speeches. The participants said that the treatment of patients was now decided by management graduates rather than doctors. “Medical practice is becoming so difficult in this country that physicians are taking it to their patients and their communities because unless it is made a citizens’ issue, things will not move,” Shailendra Kumar, a urologist from Maryland, told News India-Times. He echoed the concerns of many of the speakers, including Jindal, who declared that control of patient care must be returned to physicians and patients.

Over the years, AAPI has grown to become the most influential ethnic organization in this country, and much of that has to do with the clout and standing of the physicians who compose it. But today, Indian-American parents were not encouraging their children to go into medicine, as in the past. “I suggested to my daughter that she take up business rather than medicine when she asked my opinion,” admitted Kumar. “The bureaucracy, the regulations are the bane. We want the government out of our offices.”