3 Jan, 2010, New Delhi, India

The United States administration will introduce a bill in the Senate and the Congress to remove the federal cap on the intake of medical students, according to the Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI), a body of physicians of Indian-origin in India. This would benefit international students, including those from India.

This has been a long-standing demand of AAPI to increase the residency slots for medical graduates to facilitate more international students join post-graduate courses. The maximum intake of students by various U.S. universities at present is 18,000 seats, of which around 16,000 are reserved for the U.S. citizens, leaving only 2,000 for international students.

The move is also expected to benefit India as it recently started recognizing post-graduate medical courses obtained by the Indian-origin students of five countries: the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The move is to avail the services of students who receive the expert training in these countries. They can start practicing in India without going through any more tests. This year, the AAPI has roped in the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO) and top-notch Indian medical professional associations to make the summit a truly global one.

The summit will share best practices and experience from leading experts around the world to develop actionable plans for launching demonstration projects. It also aims at bringing together some of the world’s most renowned experts to focus on priority disease states such as allergy, immunology, cardiovascular, diabetes, infectious disease (HIV/AIDS), emergency medicine, mental health, and maternal and child health.