The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) and American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Saturday to improve the primary health care sector in India. The MoU will be applicable till January 2009. The MoU was signed on the first day of the fourth Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas-2006 at Hyderabad.

This MoU covers the full range of co-operation between MOIA and AAPI to partner with interested states in India to promote and implement pilot projects in primary health care in select project areas.

Under this MoU, the ministry will facilitate establishing linkage with knowledge partners (AAPI and counter part health institutions in the select states), institutional partners and stakeholder partners to promote and implement the primary health care pilot projects. It will establish a working group in consultation with AAPI to help implement this agreement and oversee project implementation. This group will be formed by the end February 2006.

The ministry will also identify the stakeholder partner states that would partner in the pilot projects in consultation with AAPI, which will be done by April 2006. It will identify points of contact for health care (POCH) issues in the project states. This point of contact would report directly to the health minister or the chief minister of the project state. This group will be established by May 2006.

It will also facilitate in consultation with the project state the system of having a triage nurse / physician to be a triage officer for a cluster of villages by May 2006.

AAPI will establish a group to enable collection and analysis of empirical data on the status of health and health care delivery in the project areas to jumpstart the pilot project by February 2006. It will create a group of primary care doctors to develop guidelines for the project. This group will also help in providing expertise in project education and implementation to be achieved by April 2006.

The association will help in the development of the triage concept and best practices as used in the US for primary care as a starting point for the pilot project by May 2006. It will create a template for the data to be collected under this project. It will also create a template on how to access the triage nurse / doctor from every village in the cluster. Handouts will be created jointly to help people in health care risks, immunisation and vaccination needs and on how to access treatment and preventive care.

Together, MOIA and AAPI will in consultation with the project states establish direct contacts between overseas Indian health professionals, associations and organisations to facilitate co-operative ventures and promote practical exchanges in research and development in primary health care.