Karnataka's chief minister S M Krishna called upon medical practitioners graduated from the State and who are now residing abroad to adopt health care centres in rural areas to pave the way for advancement of technical inputs and infrastructure in this vital sector.

At the inauguration of the third annual Indo-American Medical and Dental Conference which is jointly organised by the Karnataka State Dental and Medical Association and the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGHUS), the State chief minister pointed out that a similar adoption scheme of government schools in the State was well received by the Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) in US, UK, Germany, Singapore, Malaysia and other countries.

"My government considers health and education in rural areas as a priority and several projects have been initiated to usher in progress in these sectors in the State," he said.

The World Bank sponsored Health Development System was showing good progress. He urged the doctors present at the conference to finalise a strategy regarding the adoption scheme.

The chief minister said that health insurance was going to play a key role in the health care system in India in future. "Widespread awareness and preventive care were the need of the hour to wipe out taboos and old beliefs to ensure effective health care system in the country," he added.

Dr. V Sethu N Madhavan, president, Karnataka State Medical and Dental Alumni Association of America said an ongoing affiliation between the New York University and Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences and RV Dental College in Bangalore for exchange of faculty between the two institutes and for research in the field of oral cancer was organised.

The Karnataka State Medical and Dental Alumni Association of America has over 6,000 physicians and dentists from the State who reside in the US.

The three-day meet has various sessions and scientific programmes on cardiology, geriatric medicine, HIV, psychiatry, dermatology, oncology among others.