Global healthcare summit concludes

Union Ministry of Health and the APPI jointly launched a website which will link millions of Indian healthcare professionals, including over three lakh doctors, working abroad and channelise their services for the people of India.

The government will post all requests for collaboration including training, transfer of expertise and opportunities or even specific request for clinical service on the website and the Indian medical professionals can volunteer for these services during their vacations and trips to India.

"This has been a long-standing request as we wanted to give something back to our homeland and we are happy about this. We will be giving our expertise to the needy through this government initiative," AAPI president and the chair of the summit Dr Narendra Kumar said.

The three-day mega event, attended by over 380 foreign delegates and 1,000 national delegates, opened new doors of collaboration by way of exchanging ideas, firming up strategic tie-ups between healthcare providers, and collaboration with the governments, a statement said.

The conference, which was the largest gathering of Indian medical diaspora, is being organised by AAPI, Global Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (GAPIO) and Indian Medical Association (IMA) in collaboration with the Union ministries of Overseas Indian Affairs and Health.

"The event was a grand success because of its enormous participation itself. We will sum up all our recommendations and give to the government on how we can help Indians with the cost-effective and innovative health solutions, based on the discussions and deliberations over three days," Kumar said.

"We will be looking at all options including setting up offices in India to extend continuous support to the Indian authorities. The next summit will be held at Ahmedabad from January 3-5, 2014," he said.