100 African docs to be trained in medical care in India

New Delhi: Hundred doctors from 10 African nations are to be trained at various facilities across the country, by experts of a private hospital, in advanced medical care, the hospital group today said.

The International Clinical Observership Programme, a public-private-initiative (PPP) of the Fortis Healthcare and the Ministry of External Affairs is divided into four batches of 25 doctors each, it said.

"The programme includes doctors from Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Algeria, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Kenya. The first batch has already begun and it will end sometime this month," a spokesperson of the Fortis group said.

The specialities offered under this programme include bone marrow transplant, foetal medicine, cardiology, anaesthesia, nephrology and pulmonology, the Fortis Healthcare said in a statement.

"By exposing them to the state-of-the-art, evidence-based prevention, diagnostic and management services, it is expected that these doctors will have ample experience to go back and apply it at solving critical medical cases in their countries," the group said.

As per the recent World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates, the current workforce in the healthcare in sub- Saharan Africa needs to be scaled up by as much as 140 percent to attain international health development targets, it said.

Ritu Garg, Head Clinical Talent and Academics at the Fortis Healthcare said, "This is an opportunity to showcase how a public-private partnership model in healthcare can work wonders in supporting developing countries in building clinical capabilities."

"The goal of this programme is to provide a strong clinical overview of specialities, share evidence-based best practices and clinical protocols with the doctors under the guidance of eminent clinicians across the Fortis network," it said.