iNDICA NEWS BUREAU-
In the last few weeks, the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI), has been upping its efforts in supporting India with the various essential requirements to fight the devastating attack of the second wave of the Covid-19.
Being the largest ethnic organization of its kind in the US, AAPI was able to reach to more than 80,000 of its members, to raise funds.
AAPI president Dr Sudhakar Jonnalagadda said, “We have already raised over $2 million from our members and in partnership with Indian American charitable organization SEWA International, we are sending oxygen supply equipment including concentrators, ventilators, nasal cannula, BiPAP and CPAP machines which are urgently required by patients and hospitals in India.”
Some of these consignments will be reaching India early this week and we’re also in talks with suppliers across the US to source more equipment as the requirement is very high.”
Jonnalagadda and some of AAPI’s top members will be joining in a discussion on Monday, May 3, with Indian health and family welfare minister Dr Harsh Vardhan to gauge the understand the requirements of what the country needs.
“Some of our members are visiting Washington DC later this week to speak with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to urge them to send doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine that have been stockpiled by the US government but not being used to India,” Jonnalagadda added.
According to statistics available with the AAPI, every one in six American patient is treated by an Indian doctor and hundreds of them working at the frontlines were badly hit during the first and second wave of the pandemic in the US.
“We lost many of our friends and colleagues to Covid-19. But now, as the US slowly recovers from the pandemic, we’re trying to help Indian doctors and hospitals with our knowledge and experience about the virus,” Dr Sreeni Gangasani, a cardiologist who is on the board of trustees of AAPI, said.
From sharing updates on anti-viral medicine available for treatment to more rigorous personal protection protocol to deal with new Covid-19 variants and vaccination efficacy, AAPI doctors have been discussing various aspects of the pandemic and healthcare via webinars with doctors in India. The organization is also launching daily consultations free of cost for Covid patients in India on the eGlobalDoctors platform this week.
“Patients and physicians in India can avail tele-consultation on different aspects of treatment, medication, change in protocols, breathing exercises and vaccination. We want to reach out to more and more patients in India from the safety of our homes and share our lessons and experience over the past year,” Gangasani added.
“We have many volunteers for this — not just Indian Americans, but doctors in the UK and several other countries. This, we feel, will help patients who can be cured with treatment at home and stop many of them from getting nervous and rushing to hospitals that are under pressure with more serious cases.
