In a programme that is bound to have significant positive ramifications for rural healthcare in India, an association of Indian-American doctors has initiated a programme that aims to train rural medical practitioners in the identification and treatment of several killer diseases.

Doctors affiliated to American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) plan to train rural health practitioners in early detection of six diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, AIDS, tuberculosis, maternal care and allergy, since these are major killer diseases in the country.

To be initiated as a pilot project in Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, the program's results would be assessed before it is rolled out across the rest of India, said AAPI's president Dr Sanku Rao.

Addressing the media at a conference, Rao said that the AAPI is also organising the second Indo-US Health Summit in New Delhi that would be attended by representatives from central and state governments and medical professionals from both public and private sectors.

Rao termed the last summit as a success, since it gave the AAPI members a platform to interact with their Indian counterparts and unite to improve the health care scenario in India. He said the second summit is intended to come up with a strategy that will see its conclusions transformed into reality. The Indian Medical Association (IMA) and the Medical Council of India (MCI) are amongst the participants.

AAPI has around 60,000 members in the US, and is reported to have inked an MoU (memorandum of understanding) with the Indian government around four years ago to help improve health care in India. Rao said that the government of India and the state governments were very enthusiastic to work in association with the association, though "funding posed to be a problem".

To address the funding issue, the association has partnered with some NGOs (non-government organisations) and is also liaising with some private sector players to fund some of the projects.

The programme will see experts "who have their roots here" train health care professionals in primary health care centres in rural areas so that they can screen the population for diseases like diabetes, cardio vascular diseases, carcinoma of cervix and prostate, deafness in children, maternal and child health care and mental illness.

Rao. said each disease would have a physician as a team leader who will be responsible for implementation of the programme.

AAPI presently has free health care clinics in 17 locations across India, including some in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab and Karnataka. Rao said the mission is to have a presence in every state in the country, and to work with various agencies to fight AIDS.