Eating Chicken Tikkas with Chopsticks:

Namaste!

South Asian participation in APAMSA events, both in local and national chapters, has traditionally been low. Part of the reason for this low participation might be that APAMSA events generally tend to have a strong East Asian slant, which might discourage South Asians from attending them, or, worse, alienate them from APAMSA. Dim sum socials, for example, are regularly organized by the local chapters of some states. They are fun and a nice opportunity for APAMSA members to get together, but they probably generate the same level of enthusiasm in South Asian cultures as, for example, a Indian dinner social might.

Arvind and I strongly believe that the way to encourage participation of South Asians in APAMSA activities is to create social initiatives that will South Asians will want to participate in. This should not be difficult. For one thing, no major South Asian Medical Students Association exists, even though there is huge demand for such such an organization. Every other Pakistani, Indian, or Bangladeshi medical student we speak is nostalgic for Bollywood nights, Bollywood dance parties, and Diwali/Eid socials – cultural mainstays while we were growing up that are now absent from our medical school lives.

Our plan this year to organize social events with a South Asian slant. Since Arvind and I both go to medical school, we’re going to focus on the New York/ New Jersey region initially. Once we have an effective model established in this region, we will consider applying it to the other APAMSA chapters. Amongst the events we plan to organize are a New-York wide Bollywood dance party and a group expedition to a Bollywood movie. We also plan to customize the publicty for the New York APAMSA regional conference so that it appeals to both East and South Asian medical Students. We hope that these events will provide an opportunity for South Asian medical students to network with one another and to become more aware of the work APAMSA does and their potential roles in the organization.

Social outings aren’t the only events we have planned for this year. Arvind and I are trying to build a team right now to help us organize Hepatitis B screening clinics at mosques and hindu temples around the New York/ New Jersey area. In addition, assuming that we get a team together, we will also help AsianWeek (an NGO involved in promoting hep-B treatments for Asian Americans) reach out to physicians from the Association of Physicians from India (API) pledge to screen their Asian American patients for Hepatitis B.