indica News Bureau-
Indian American doctors are working round the clock to defeat the coronavirus outbreak. The virus has claimed 69 lives and infected over 3,700 in the country. With Trump administration taking several measures to contain the virus from spreading and declaring a ‘national emergency’ in the US, the India-American doctors have appreciated the efforts made by the US government.
According to the American Association of Physicians of Indian origin, AAPI, every seventh patient in the U.S. is treated by an Indian doctor. That easily puts them as probably the largest ethnic cohort of medical personnel on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic. Over 100,000 Indian-American doctors practice in the US.
Founded in 1982, the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin represents a conglomeration of more than 80,000 practicing physicians in the United States.
President Trump issued a proclamation under section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to restrict travel to the United States from foreign nationals who have recently been in certain European countries, economic assistance package to help support businesses and workers who have been harmed by this outbreak, declaring a public health emergency, directing his administration to make general-use face masks available to our healthcare workers are some important steps taken by trump to curb Covid-19.
The Indian-American doctors’ community in the US has commended the steps being taken by President Donald Trump-led administration in tackling the coronavirus outbreak.
“The Trump administration’s proactive handling of the coronavirus situation is commendable,” Dr Narendra Kumar, former president of the AAPI, said in a statement issued through Al Mason.
“The White House Task Force on coronavirus has put together all necessary resources with lightning speed to contain the spread of the disease and prevented an otherwise worse situation”, said Dr Kumar, a practicing otolaryngologist and sleep medicine specialist in Michigan and recipient of Pravasi Bhartiya Samman.
He said the closing of the border, travel restrictions and bans and finally, the declaration of national emergency were done appropriately.
“I have seen very closely how the government has implemented measures to stop this pandemic, from frequent online meetings from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) and other experts who delivered vital information about the coronavirus and measures taken by the hospitals to reduce spreading, to making available test kits and now several billions of dollars (provisioned) that will help us to maintain our community and our hospital prepared for this pandemic, and ultimately, eradicate it,” said Dr Humberto Nunez from Texas.
Asserting that Trump is handling the coronavirus crisis “very effectively”, Dr Freemu Varghese, a nephrologist from Houston, exuded confidence that measures like a declaration of national emergency, availability of testing kits throughout the country, and developing vaccines and drug therapy at war-footing will successfully help address the public health challenge.
“President Trump has been the consoler in chief trying to calm the fears of the country and the markets,” said Dr Dheeraj Kamalam, anesthesiologist critical care intensives and former president of Association of Kerala Medical Graduates of Greater New York.
Another Indian-American medical practitioner Dr Ajeenkya D Y Patil said most of the doctors in the US were encouraged by the strong and swift measures being taken to combat the deadly disease.
The administration’s free coronavirus testing drive, and empowering the secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to waive provisions of certain laws and regulations and give maximum flexibility to healthcare providers to care for their patients have been most appreciated by the medicos.
This declaration will provide HHS with critical authorities to waive licensing requirements so doctors from other states can provide services in areas with the greatest need.
It will also provide critical access hospital requirements to allow those hospitals to have more beds and longer lengths of stay and rules hindering hospitals’ ability to bring additional physicians on board or obtain needed office space.
“My personal opinion is that President Trump is doing as good a job as one could expect with all the unknowns and magnitude of this novel virus outbreak,” said Dr Dilip B Viswanath, cardiovascular associate from Delaware Valley.
Closing borders will help reduce transmission, he added.
“Although everybody is concerned about being/getting tested I worry that a negative test may create a false sense of security when one can just as easily be exposed the next day or even the same day. Agreeably a positive would presumably change behavior and hence reduce transmission,” he said.
Instituting a multi-faceted plan will certainly help slow down the spread of the virus and allow America to recover sooner, said Dr John Lee from New York, adding that many official procedures have been cut and vaccines and cure developments have been put on a fast track.
He said nearly 2 million free coronavirus tests were available this week itself.
