Bobby Jindal, who is running for Louisiana Governor, speaking at the Young Physicians reception at the AAPI convention in Orlando, Florida, on June 21. (Photo: Ela Dutt)

ORLANDO, FLORIDA: Despite generational differences in approaches and issues, AAPI has to and is making extra efforts to engage young physicians so that the next generation of Indian American doctors can strengthen the parent organization, infuse new energy and expand membership.

“They (AAPI) are going to have to accommodate us,” asserted Arti Pandya, former vice president of the Young Physicians (YP) section of AAPI. “Many of us have different views and if they want to keep us within the umbrella, they have to pay us attention. Or we could go off on our own. But it is nice to interact.

“We don’t have immigration issues, most of us are born and brought up here. We don’t have residency problems. For us, one of the main issues is doing humanitarian work in India. And there’s a political aspect to that --- getting funding for India,” Pandya said. She has traveled to India three times in the last two years, joining eye camps, doing more than 40 cataract surgeries a day.

“We are getting closer to the older generation,” she conceded.

At a ‘Community Service’ panel, Dr. Navin Shah, urologist from Maryland, past president of AAPI and current trustee, is among the many older physicians concerned with collaring the Young Physicians’ potential. The multiple health projects AAPI has initiated in India over the years, he said, has been attracting the youth. At the conference, he announced additional scholarships for young physicians wanting to go and do charitable work in India as well as studying Ayurveda and gaining experience in tropical medicine and being aware of health care conditions in developing countries. Speakers on the panel included Sunit Jariwala of the SAMAR/NMDP project, Sonal Shah of IndiaCorps, Alison Kutcha of the City of Joy project, and Dr. Kalpalatha Guntupalli, who focused on her anti-tobacco campaign.

Ruchi Gupta, former president of Young Physicians, said liability reform has been the main focus nationally and that was also the concern among young Indian-American physicians. “The Young Physicians section is still going through growing pains. Membership is an issue and so is the difference in what are our concerns from those of the earlier generation. We want to play a greater role in Continuing Medical Education. We want to break into that area and put our expertise to use. We need to be moving forward in the larger body. It’s a difficult transition --- but in five years we hope to be part of the larger group.” Currently, YP has just 200 members.

“There’s more emphasis among exhibitors on electronic book-keeping and technology,” noted Tarun Gupta. “That is important to us because we are the people who are going to use these new technologies.”

In a lively young physicians reception for gubernatorial candidate in Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, the 31 year old boy-wonder and former presidential advisor on health care policy, talked about returning control of care to physicians rather than bureaucrats. Instead of spending billions on diabetes the focus should be preventing the disease; moving to a paperless system; ending frivolous lawsuits.

“Are we going to let the bureaucracy run our health system or our doctors,” Jindal questioned speaking on Medicare and Medicaid. He urged support for the health- care bil making its way through the U.S. Congress. “The debate in Washington is between private and public funding of programs. We’ve got to get beyond the philosophical debate and accommodate both sides. The common theme is choice.”

Jindal drew attention to his own race where without a dime of advertising he ranked 2nd in a field of 12 candidates from both parties, running for Governor in Louisiana. Young physicians urged everyone to donate to Jindal’s campaign. “We in the second generation must ensure that our children have the same opportunities our parents gave us,” Jindal emphasized. In Louisiana, he said, voters tend to vote without party labels, calling for bipartisan support.

“In our state we don’t appeal to voters on party lines,” said Jindal when asked how he was doing in a majority Democratic state and how he was crossing race lines. Furthermore, “both parties are very active in approaching and courting Indian Americans. It’s a good sign Indian Americans are effective,” he added.

Jindal also made clear that he would not be pronouncing on the India-Pakistan conflict when he became governor. “As governor of Louisiana I would have no direct role,” he said, “But as a public official I would have the right to voice my opinion on terrorism.”

Young Physicians had organized a heavy schedule through the convention on issues ranging from ‘Balancing Work with Life,’ ‘Residency issues, Alternative Careers in Medicine,’ a ‘Legislative Update on Current Legislation and How to Get Active’ and ‘Hot Topics in Medicine including Lasik Surgery, Use of Acupuncture, and Interventional Radiology.’