Mumbai hospital ties up with US college for AIDS research
Category : others on January 10, 2008
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Aiming to improve HIV-related research in India, a government-run hospital in Mumbai has joined hands with a New York-based medical college to hold a clinical training course in AIDS research.
A team of five faculty members, including two Indian Americans Sarita Shah and Neel Gandhi from Albert Einstein College of Medicine,
is conducting the course at the B.Y.L Nair Hospital to promote a culture of research among healthcare professionals in the developing world as part of the AIDS International Training and Research Programme. The four-week training course, which will conclude Feb 1, is being carried out for the first time outside the US. "Back home we conduct a six-week seminar on clinical research. In Mumbai we will specially train medicine professionals, three from Rwanda and seven from different cities of India, to carry out AIDS research in India, Bangladesh and Rwanda," Shah told IANS Wednesday. Jayanthi Shastri, the course director and head of department of microbiology at the Nair Hospital, admitted that Indian researchers fail to make an impact in international journals because of improper data collection and faulty analysis. "The main purpose of this initiative is to equip mid-level healthcare professionals to conduct independent research. Our researchers have to match up to international cadre," said Shastri. The team will also take up a pilot project at Kamathipura, Mumbai's red light district, on the prevalence of AIDS and conduct a demographic study on commercial sex workers, added Shah. IANS |
