Dear AAPI-Central Ohio members,

AAPI event attendance is dwindling every year. Have we thought about this, why is this happening, when there are increasing numbers of Indian physicians every year who are coming to Columbus, and who are graduating from medical schools.

There are multiple reasons for it, when AAPI was initially formed our issues were different, our problems and priorities were different, our thinking and environment were different. Things have changed now, and I feel, to some extent, AAPI has failed to keep up with the changing times. Most physician organizations forget that their sole purpose is to serve their Physicians, they seem to be working for everyone but the physicians that make them. When you go to them with any of your issues they all have their own agendas and unfortunately the poor physician member seems to be at the bottom of that agenda. Well, I don’t want AAPI to follow that path. AAPI needs to work for us, the physicians that constitute it.

Our issues are no longer just about us and our careers and problems, they are now also about our future generations. It’s not just about settling in a foreign land but also about staying in touch with our roots. It’s not just about our careers, it’s about surviving in a constantly changing and sometimes hostile environment. My goal is to make AAPI our go-to organization for all our needs. There has always been safety in numbers, much more so in this day and age. Unfortunately, when we form groups, large or small, we lose a lot of our autonomy. Having said that, there are still a lot of benefits that a group can provide us.

We are going to put together a framework to arrange a Conglomerate, in which independent physicians of all Specialties can get together and retain their autonomy while utilizing the group’s resources, which may include a management company, referral tools, marketing, practice management, IT people, billing, HR, Attorneys, Accountants, health insurance agents and so on. This would have absolutely no strings attached. Our website will have a members-only area where these resources will be listed. When we start practicing we are suddenly inundated with a huge amount of choices. We are right out of residency with no clue about real life and the challenges that would face us. We have choices here which are new and difficult for us right from the beginning, private practice, hospital practice, where to live, contracts, insurance companies, credentialing woes, hospital privileges, practice management, EMR, accountant, staffing, OSHA and so on.

I want AAPI members to have an edge, of course, they will have to work very hard, but I would like AAPI’s vast experience which can pave the way for the younger generations to achieve what they dream of and exceed it. We have a lot of senior AAPI members with a lot of experience who can help with private practice issues, hospital contracts, insurance issues, accountancy problems, and legal problems. Our physicians can help children with shadow opportunities, research opportunities. I would like to invite our own children to share their experiences, what struggles, what challenges they faced, how they achieved what they have. To me, this would be a great source of inspiration to the other kids and help them achieve their goals. I have also found that there are certain physicians from India who come here and undergo tribulation while they are looking for residency or taking their exams. I believe AAPI should do something for these physicians, some of them work in Gas Stations or McDonalds while trying to study for their exams or look for residency. While I do understand that we can’t help them actually get a Residency but we may be able to help them in other ways. One of the things that AAPI may be able to do is to purchase a small condo or apartment and provide it to some of these Doctors at subsidized rent for limited periods of time. This space may also be utilized to make a small office for AAPI, to store our accounts, memorabilia, etc. It will be AAPI’s way of showing that we care for our own. Which brings me to some other issues and possible long term goals for AAPI. Every year we spend thousands of dollars in renting spaces for our programs. AAPI would plan on building a community center. In order to build this center, I will involve all the other Indian associations and their members. This center will be available to all community members at nominal rates, for our children, their activities, for us. If the demand is there, it can have a fitness club, a cafeteria, meeting rooms, and party halls.

I don’t want AAPI to be merely a name, I want it to become a force, I want AAPI to fulfill our needs and serve us to grow, to succeed, to provide us a platform for all our professional and social requirements. In order to fulfill our short and long term goals, there will be the formation of an AAPI Annual fund. There will be a committee that will work towards our long-term goals. This committee will oversee all the money collected through various AAPI events and its utilization. AAPI will continue its philanthropic efforts. Over the past several years we have contributed to various charitable organizations and AAPI will continue to do so.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Thank you very much!

 

Thank You.

President
AAPICO