Day 4 in India (Written Jan. 10)

It seems as if each day of my India trip has taken on a  theme.  The first day, Monday, was spent  understanding our efforts on HIV/AIDS in India.  Tuesday was a tutorial on the generic drug  and vaccine industry in India  and the role they play in providing products for the United States. I also spent time  with non-profits we support in a push against human trafficking.  Wednesday was devoted to a similar study of  the food industry and its connection to the United States. 

Thursday was devoted to meeting with government officials  and doing diplomacy events at a university.   In total, I held meetings with the Ministers of Health, Commerce,  Agriculture, Science and Technology.  In  each of the meetings we discussed our countries’ new strategy on import safety  and the impact it could have on Indian businesses. 

I also met with Dr. Samlee Pilianbangchang, the Regional  Director of the World Health Organization.   We discussed a long list of subjects ranging from HIV/AIDS, Indonesia’s  unwillingness to share samples of influenza cases and intellectual property  disputes.    

Whenever I visit another country, I like to do a diplomacy  event at a university where I can interact with students.  I think university students are a good gauge  of how the United States  is viewed and more importantly the direction of their thinking.  I also hope it is helpful for them to have  interacted directly with a senior official of our government — to find out we  are just people with lives driven by circumstances not completely different  from their own. 

In New Delhi I went to Jamia Millia   Islamia University.  It was a new experience for me.  I had not been on an Islamic campus  before.  The university has about 10,000  students.  About 450 attended mostly science  and medical students and faculty. 

The program started with a reading from the Koran, the  singing of the school song and opening remarks by the Vice Chancellor.  It is my practice to use a hand-held  microphone and stand on the front of the stage so there is nothing between the  students and me. 

I told them I wanted to divide our time together into three  parts.  First, I wanted them to know who  I am and to feel as if they know something about me as a person.  Second, I wanted to make one point that could  stimulate some discussion and give them an opportunity to better understand my  view of the world.  Last, I wanted to  reserve the majority of time for them to ask me questions. 

For 10 minutes or so, I told them about my life.  It included discussion about my parents,  brothers and home in Utah.  I told them about my wife of 34 years and our  five children and three grandchildren.  I  talked about my professional career and how I got into public service.  I went into some detail on the nature of my job  in the United States  government. 

The second part of my presentation was devoted to describing  how I see the world beginning to organize itself into networks.  I used product safety as an example. 

For the final section I invited them to ask me whatever they  wanted. I had been briefed by the embassy that I would likely get some  questions about matters related to Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan, so as an  introduction to the Q&A portion I told them there are some subjects on  which I will comment, but I want you to know I am neither an expert nor a  spokesman for the United States on those matters. 

The students interacted with me in a respectful way.  The questions were mostly focused on the  scientific relationships between the U.S.  and India.  Why aren’t Indian doctors recognized in the  U.S?  The price of drugs and intellectual  property protection were raised.   Students asked about the number of people who are uninsured in the United States  as well as matters related to mental health and stem cell research.   

There was one student who  read a statement critical of the United States  and our positions on the war in Iraq.   I told them the war in Iraq was one of those issues that  does not fall into my expertise but I did want them to know what is in the  heart of Americans and specifically President Bush.  I told them war is always awful and that for  centuries afterwards the motives of those involved are questioned and examined  by historians.  This war will be no  different.  However, in my private  conversations with President Bush it has become clear to me that he is most  devoted to the principle that every human being deserves to have liberty and  that no nation can provide another with a better gift than freedom.  Freedom is our goal and we will continue to  pursue that until the people of Iraq  and Afghanistan  can govern themselves in a sustainable democracy. 

In a previous blog I referenced a dinner the Ambassador  hosted at his residence. Two additional comments:  I enjoyed the way the dinner was organized.  There was only one table and it was  round.  So often one goes to dinners like  that and the group is divided into small groups sitting at different  tables.  It means you don’t have any  exposure to many of the people who attend.   As dinner proceeded, the Ambassador asked me to tee up a conversation  with some opening comments.  I recounted  the purpose of my India  trip and posed a series of questions at the end.  The dinner guests then weighed in and we had  a stimulating conversation that nearly everyone participated in. 

The second thing of interest was the embassy.  The United States Embassy in India is large,  spacious and beautifully designed.  The  Ambassador’s home is an image of the Kennedy  Center in Washington, D.C.  It turns out, the embassy was built before  the Kennedy Center and that they were designed by  the same architect.  Jackie Kennedy had  been at the embassy and asked that the same architect do the Kennedy Center  for the Arts.  The Kennedy Center  is the copy, not the other way around.

Comments

Thanks for the report from India. For an answer to the questions as to Why aren’t Indian doctors recognized in the U.S? They are. 40 thousand Indian trained physicians are practicing in the United States, or five percent of the American total. The assumption must be that there are so many Indians, forty thousand physicians more or less won’t be missed. FYI Physician training, or lack thereof, impacts immigration. Immigrants are one in four of U.S. physicians, and one in four physician immigrants are from India.
Source: http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/print/211.html
India has 1 physician for 1,666 population.
Source: http://www.who.int/globalatlas/dataQuery/reportData.asp?rptType=1
Global Atlas of the Health Workforce
Category: Human Resources for Health, Topic Aggregated data 2006, density per 1000, physicians total, world.

Posted by: J.I.M.C. | January 28, 2008 at 03:05 PM