By Ela Dutt
T
wo U.S. lawmakers, a
Democrat and a
Republican, have intro-
duced legislation in Congress
urging the State Department to
speed-up J-1 visa approvals for
international physicians. Entitled
the Grant Residency for
Additional Doctors (GRAD) Act of
2015, introduced April 23 by
Reps. Grace Meng, D-NewYork,
and Tom Emmer, R-Minnesota, is
expected to end the logjam at
various U.S. embassies particu-
larly in India and Pakistan, that
was preventing the delivery of
good healthcare to underserved
areas in this country, the lawmak-
ers say.
The American Association of
Physicians of Indian Origin, AAPI,
has long called for not just expe-
diting the visa process but also
opening up more residency
spaces so that the shortage of
doctors in the U.S. healthcare
system is met. Meng and Emmer,
who are members of the House
Foreign Affairs Committee, said
currently foreign
physicians scheduled to serve
their residencies at American
hospitals “are encountering
extremely long delays in
obtaining J-1 visas from
U.S. Embassies in their
countries, particularly in
India and Pakistan.” The
holdups have resulted in
major dilemmas for
those doctors and the
U.S. hospitals – many in
rural and underserved
communities – at which
the physicians are set to work. In
many instances, the delays have
forced hospitals to withdraw
offers from foreign physicians
who had already accepted, they
say.
The excessive delay Meng said
is “causing unnecessary havoc”
for those doctors and the
American hospitals that are
depending on them. She called
the approval process “ineffective”
and demanded it be improved so
that critical medical care needs in
communities throughout this
country can be met.
“Not resolving this dilemma
would be extremely unfair to all
and a disservice to the
millions of Americans
who seek treatment
from these hospitals,
especially in areas
where there is a short-
age of doctors.
“ The lawmakers
hope expediting the J-1
visa approval would fix
the problem and urged
their colleagues to pass the bill. If
passed, the Act would require the
Secretary of State to designate a
State Department officer or
employee to facilitate the expe-
dited review of J-1 visa applicants
slated to travel to the U.S for
graduate medical education or
training.
The measure would also
require that the expedited review
be the sole responsibility of this
officer or employee fromMarch
to June, since the majority of resi-
dency programs begin each July.
In addition, the legislation would
mandate that Foreign Service
officers at relevant embassies
receive training related to med-
ical graduates and med-
ical graduate programs.
Dr. Sudhir Parikh,
publisher of News India
Times and recipient of
India’s Padma Shri
award said it was the
right action for lawmak-
ers to take in light of
healthcare needs here.
“Expediting the J-1
visa is great also because J-1 is for
primary care physicians and
those are the ones most needed
in rural areas in this country,”
said Dr. Parikh, who is also an
active AAPI member. “Doctors
who are green card holders prefer
not to go to those locations.” If
this J-1 visa legislation passes, he
said, AAPI’s long time commit-
ment to improving the U.S.
healthcare system as well as the
future of international physicians
wanting to come here, will be
served. “We as AAPI have been
calling for increase in number of
residencies and issuing J-1 visas
because so many eligible doctors
are not immediately eli-
gible for the green card
or other visas. And the
need is immediate.”
The J-1 is a tempo-
rary nonimmigrant visa
that international physi-
cians use to work in U.S.
medical residency pro-
grams.
Rep. Emmer reiterat-
ed Meng’s call for expediting the
visa process to increase health-
care access in the country.
“By improving oversight and
training at U.S. Embassies we can
ensure our Foreign Service
Officers have all the tools they
need to properly process each
application in a timely manner,”
he said.
Lawmakers UrgeU.S. to Speed-upVisaApprovals for Physicians
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U. S. Affairs
News India Times
May 1, 2015
4
– that’s all you need to know
‘America’s Doctor’ VivekMurthy Recounts ‘Improbable Rise’
By Arun Kumar
–WASHINGTON
on of Indian immigrant
parents, Dr. Vivek
Murthy says his rise to
the position of
“America’s Doctor” was
improbable but he got where he
was by standing on principle.
“As I look around this arena, I
am struck by a simple truth: By
any reasonable measure, I
shouldn’t be standing here,” he
said at his ceremonial swearing
in as America’s 19th surgeon
general April 22 at Fort Myer,
Virginia. “My family was never
supposed to have left our ances-
tral village (of Hallegere in
Karnataka’s Mandya district). My
father is the son of a farmer in
rural India.
“He was supposed to have
been a farmer, as was I,” recalled
Murthy, 37, as a crowd of sup-
porters that includedVice
President Joe Biden watched.
“But for my grandfather’s
insistence that his son get an
education – even if that meant
going into debt – we might have
never left that village to go out in
the world and – as my grandfa-
ther also insisted – start fixing
what needed fixing.”
“We were not supposed to
have become Americans. My
parents stopped in three other
countries – including a brutal
dictatorship – on their journey to
get here,” said Murthy, who is
now the highest ranking Indian-
American in the Obama
Administration.
“They saved up money and
scrounged for information about
job opportunities, always know-
ing that America was the desti-
nation,” he said.
“They knew that here – more
than any other place in the
world –they would not be limited
because of who they were or
where they came from.
“And in Miami, they found a
community of immigrants from
all over the world who continue
to hold on to that vision of
America as an article of faith,”
said Murthy.
And even after being nomi-
nated for this job by President
Barack Obama, “I almost didn’t
get to be your surgeon general,”
he said alluding to the opposi-
tion of the powerful gun lobby
that left him cooling his heels for
more than a year.
“Had it not been for so many
of you in this room – and thou-
sands of dedicated individuals
that I have never even met – I
would not be standing here.We
got here by standing on princi-
ple,” said Murthy.
According to the surgeon
general’s website, Murthy grad-
uated from high school in
Miami and then received his
bachelor’s degree fromHarvard.
From there, he earned his
medical degree and master’s in
business administration at Yale
University. In addition to prac-
ticing internal medicine at
Brigham andWomen’s Hospital,
he in 2009 started a nonprofit,
Doctors for America, composed
of thousands of doctors and
medical students supporting
Obama’s healthcare initiatives.
Biden too jabbed the Senate for
the delay in confirming Murthy
at his swearing-in ceremony
April 22.
“Thankfully, the people that
held up the nomination don’t
have to wait that long for a doc-
tor’s appointment,” he said.
Murthy’s nomination was
opposed by the National Rifle
Association, which publicized
tweets where he called guns a
“public health issue” and said
members of Congress were
“scared of the NRA.”
The surgeon general oversees
the U.S. Public Health Service
Commissioned Corps (USPHS),
an elite group of over 6,700 uni-
formed officer public health pro-
fessionals.
– IANS
S
Vice President Joe Biden administers the
oath of office to Dr. Vivek Murthy as the
19th U.S. Surgeon General, April 22, as
his family members look on.
Rep. Grace Meng
Rep. Tom Emmer
