Ritu Jha-
Even after 8 months of COVID wreaking havoc around the world, leaders are yet to find a way to control its spread.
To address this issue, the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) had a healthy dialogue between India, Israel and the United States on ways to fight the spread of coronavirus and for the development of an efficient quality healthcare system.
The dialogue held past month Aug.26 in coordination with the Indian and Israeli Consulates in New York, the American Jewish Committee, AAPI, and the Hindu-Jewish Coalition.
AAPI’s new president Dr. Sudhakar Jonnalagadda during the virtual discussion called “Can 30 seconds save the world? Israeli-Indian cooperation to develop a rapid test for Covid-19”, to increase India-Israel-US cooperation in the realm of healthcare, welcomed the 30 seconds COVID test kit offered by the Israeli government.
Dr. Jonnalagadda told indica News, India is helping Israel with PPE(Personal Protective Equipment) and they(India want technology).
When asked what role APPI has here said that they(Indian govt) asked AAPI’s suggestions and the technology at present takes 30 minutes for maximum to report for COVID -19 test result and the device the Israeli government offers takes just 30 seconds.
Sounded pleased to get results in just 30 seconds, Dr. Jonnalagadda did not disclose the name of the company developed the kit but said, “It’s a swab-based test and has to be tested before we want it to send to India.”
Adding further he said that the Ambassador of Isreal in India, Ron Malka and acting Isreal consul general in New York Israel Nitzan have invited AAPI doctors to visit their hospitals to learn about how to deal during a pandemic.
“We know Israel is good in disaster management and how to handle pandemic, “ Georgia based Dr. Jonnalagadda said.
Noting the difficult situation for all three countries, the panel recommended collaboration and sharing of knowledge and expertise to find better solutions to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
“AAPI members are putting their best efforts to help our patients, especially those impacted by COVID,” he said, noting that “several of our physicians have been affected in this pandemic,” Dr. Jonnalagadda said, as he provided a brief on the activities of the association as well as several India-US initiatives on coronavirus.
“We are continuing our efforts to make AAPI a more dynamic and vibrant organization playing a meaningful and relevant part in advocating health policies and practices that best serve the interests of all patients and promoting the physician’s role as the leaders of the team-based health care delivery,” he said.
Dr. Jonnalagadd told indica News AAPI has lost 10 doctors due to the pandemic.
Talking further on AAPI’s initiative under his presidentship, Jonnalagadda told indica News that they have added an addition to the membership for medical students. Like adding 20 hours of free CME (Continuous Medical Education) as a membership benefit for students.
Another addition to supporting students is the Clinical Observership program, this is for International Medical graduates coming from India and overseas. Students who face medical school and residency in the US, get some experience on how to deal with physicians, and plan for the treatment. It also teaches how to have a good interaction with the physicians.
The AAPI’s international students program starts in October.
Dr. Jonnalagadda sharing on the objective behind it said, The there was a need… an absolutely there is a need, when I came to this country, I was not aware of how to present the case and how to talk to the patients and these are very important.”
