LAHORE, Dec 8: Indian Medical Association (IMA) president Dr Jagjit Singh has said that both Pakistan and India must exchange their expertise in medicine to help poor patients in both countries.

Speaking at a news conference at a dinner reception hosted by the Pakistan Medical Association, Lahore, here on Monday, he said there was a great need for people-to-people interaction to speed up the peace process.

He said that the 34-member IMA delegation had received an overwhelming response from their Pakistani counterparts during their good will visit. He said the IMA and the PMA had planned different exchange programmes. He said the IMA had also invited a delegation of Inutro transfusion experts delegation to be headed by Prof Dr Yasmin Rashid during the next summer.

Dr Singh hoped that the relations between the two countries would definitely improve when the goodwill visits between the people of both countries would increase.

IMA vice-president Dr Satish Chug said the mission of their visit was to promote peace, love and affection. He said interaction should be a regular feature to share knowledge.

Answering questions, he said the concept of free healthcare services was almost finishing in public sector hospitals in India. He, however, said the nominal user-charges were not being handed over to doctors in the name of shares but being spent on the uplift of respective institutions.

Dr Aurora said the India government was giving handsome salaries to doctors and providing facilities which had ensured availability of consultants even at primary healthcare levels. He also said that no private practice was allowed by doctors except those who surrender their non-practising allowance.

IMA’s Dr D S Jaspal, PMA’s Prof Dr Yasmin Rashid and PMA Lahore president Dr Zahid Mohiuddin also spoke.