Indian American physicians recommend nationwide lockdown to flatten the pandemic curve.
As part of its efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic, American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) has donated masks to several medical institutions across the US under its Donate a Mask Program.
Recognizing the importance of personal protective equipment (PPE), the largest ethnic medical organization in the US has also started a Fund Raiser to provide fellow professionals masks to protect them from the deadly virus, according to an AAPI release.
“As we are not prepared well, our frontline soldiers (physicians) are working under suboptimal conditions with severe shortage of masks and other protective gear,” AAPI President Dr. Suresh Reddy said.
“As a result, some of the foot soldiers have succumbed to this deadly virus,” he said. “To protect our fraternity, we have established a donation box on AAPI website under the banner Donate a Mask.”
A Task Force has also been constituted to identify the hospitals and sending the supply of Masks/PPE directly to them.
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It consists of Dr. Jayesh Shah, Chair; Dr. Sudhakar Jonnalagadda. Co-Chair; Dr. Suresh Reddy, President of AAPI; Dr. Anupama Gotimukula, Vice President; Dr. Seema Arora, Chair, Board of Trustees (BOT); Dr. Sajani Shah, Chair, BOT-Elect; Dr. Chander Kapasi, Chair, AAPI Charitable Foundation; and Dr. Surendra Purohit, Vice Chair of AAPi Charitable Foundation.
“In our efforts to contain and prevent this pandemic,” Dr. Jayesh Shah, Past President of AAPI, said, “we are recommending that authorities across the nation Implement and enforce a total lockdown of the nation, social distancing, and enforce self-quarantine of the total population, as has been practiced in other countries in order to flatten the infection curve.”
Last week, AAPI donated masks to Cook County Health Care Systems as also Flushing Hospital in Queens. Inland Southern California Organization of Physicians of Indian Origin (ISCOPI) also donated masks to three local hospitals.
In addition several AAPI Chapters donated masks to dozens of smaller health care institutes and private practices as per the local needs.
In view of the rising number of positive cases of covid-19 in USA, Dr. Lokesh Edara, Chair of AAPI International Medical Education, AAPI has urged President Donald Trump and all State Governors to make wearing a mask in public mandatory.
Dr. Lokesh Edara, Chair of AAPI International Medical Education, said, “The recommendations that we have put forth above are based on the increasingly worsening data and trends that we are witnessing get reported on a daily basis.”
Dr. Reddy also urged the authorities to provide the much needed equipment, testing and facilities enabling them to be isolated and treated to reduce the sickness of “healthcare workforce at precisely the time we need them to be healthy and treating patients.”
For more information about AAPI and its several initiatives, including to address the global pandemic, please visit: www.appiusa.org.