Mumbai Hosting 61st General Medical Assembly Today

An international panel of medics will host its 61st general assembly in Mumbai, today i.e. August 9, 2012, to be attended by 1,000 delegates from across 114 countries. The officials described it as one of the largest international medical students meets and this will be the International Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA) first general assembly meet in India.

The general secretary of IFMSA Esha Gupta said "India is a perfect place for a discussion on universal health care as the country now experiences a gradual transition towards provision of easily accessible and affordable health care to all Indians by 2020".

Maharashtra Health Minister Suresh Shetty, former union minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor Vice Chancellors of Many medical universities, and others will mark their presence at the event. The theme "general assemble" is based on India's Vision of 2020 'Universal Health Care'.

IFMSA India, which was earlier Medical Student's Association of India (MSAI), was fully adopted into panel as IFMSA-India in March this year. On speaking about the agenda for meet, Sushmitha Kothapalli, Vice President, International Affairs of IFMSA said; "They look forward to an aggressive discussion and passing of motions which will bring a positive change in the healthcare scenario in India and world.

IFMSA is also organizing a workshop prior to the meet, where delegates from 20 countries will visit the slums of Mumbai and prepare a report understanding the healthcare model. IFMSA - India is a medial student organization involving moer than 5,000 students from over 100 different medical colleges.