India Post News Service (June 10, 2006).  N C SRIREKHA

US Indian Specialists Bring Emergency Medical Expertise to India

NEW YORK: At a time when Emergency Medicine is not yet officially recognized by the Government of India, the American Academy for Emergency Medicine in India (AAEMI) is making all out efforts to impart knowledge and expertise to emergency care workers in Indian hospitals, while trying to institutionalize emergency medicine in the country.

The AAEMI held the Annual Meeting of the AAEMI at the Indian Consulate, NY, in preparation to the 2nd International Emergency Medicine and Disaster Preparedness Conference scheduled to be hosted at New Delhi in November 2006.

At the meeting, the AAEMI came together with co-sponsors of the conference, the Emergency Department of North Shore LIJ Hospital, the American College of Emergency Physicians, and the Society of Emergency Medicine, India (SEMI), where the objectives of the conference in view of the dire need of emergency services in India were discussed.

"Emergency medicine does not exist in India," was a categorical statement from Dr Krishna Kumar attached to SUNY, Stony Brook, NY, who is co-chair of the forthcoming New Delhi conference. "It is available only in the developed countries. India is a fast developing country and we need to bring this service to India."

The conference aims to increase the awareness of the importance of Emergency Medicine in standardizing emergency care, developing pre-hospital systems and planning for disaster preparedness. The conference will consist of lectures, workshops and discussions to be participated by Emergency Medicine Physicians, medical students interested in this field of medicine and emergency medicine health care providers.

Making a presentation on the need for such services in India, Dr Indrani Sheridan, current president of AAEMI showed a series of photographs of typical scenes from the streets of India, which potentially lead to emergency situations.

There was the classic picture of an over crowded local bus, which had people not only traveling atop the bus, but also hanging from the sides and the back of the bus. Then there were pictures of cyclists who dangerously clutch on to the back of a truck to enjoy an effortless ride without having to pedal. Also, people walking on the roads for want of pavements, reckless overtaking on narrow inter-state roads, were highlighted as typical situations that lead to accidents in India, making emergency medicine critical.

"What we are trying to do through the conference is bring our clinical experience, international experience and teaching experience to Indian physicians and hospitals," said Dr Sheridan who is Assistant Professor, Weill Medical College of Cornell University and Director of International Emergency Medicine, NYHQ.

The AAEMI had first held its major conference in 2001 along with MediCity in Hyderabad and the next year, along with the famed Apollo Hospitals. Subsequent conferences were held at Pune, Mumbai and Delhi.

According to Dr Vijay Akkapeddi of Weill Medical College of Cornell University, NY, emergency medicine has not evolved in India, but there have been a lot of developments since the AAEMI's first conference in 2001. "Most of the medical graduates in India want to be part of primary care specialty, so we are trying to see if they can do two specialties at the same time, like for instance if they want to do pediatrics, then they should be able to do pediatric emergency medicine. So we are trying to promote it as a dual specialty like doing post graduation and specialties at the same time."

Dr Akkapeddi said that the Indian Medical Council does not yet recognize emergency medicine as a separate specialty.  "We have been pressuring IMC, but they haven't officially recognized it as yet, because if it is approved as a specialty, the government would have to provide funding for training and faculty. We can't start a post graduate training program in any hospital if it is not recognized by the Govt of India."

Even if private funding were available, the specialty program cannot be funded unless there is a recognized department for that specialty, Dr Akkapeddi pointed out. He added that although more and more medical students in India are interested in emergency medicine, they do not have the opportunity to get trained officially.

Significantly, emergency medicine is relatively new in the US too. It was only in 1989 that this specialty was recognized by the Americn Board of Medical Specialties. "It took nearly 20 years for Emergency Care to be set up in the US, but in India they don't have to wait that long. With our knowledge and experience we can do it for them," said Dr Akkapeddi.

As the middle class population in India grows, there is a demand for this emergency medical services, he explained. "Then even local area small hospitals should be able to provide this care. People can afford it now but they don't have the service available."

Appallingly, for the1.2 billion people of India, there are just about 100-200 physicians practicing emergency medicine in the country. "It is scary, but hopefully you don't have to wait another 20 years to catch up," said Dr Akkapeddi confidently.

On its part, the Indian Consulate is helping to speedily issue visas to American physicians wishing to visit India to attend the conference. In fact, the Consulate issued visas to 10 doctors who had submitted their visa applications on the same morning prior to the meeting.