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Jobs2career.com makes medical dreams come true

Nitish S Rele in Tampa

Are you an IMG [Indian medical graduate] looking to further your expertise? Do you want to complete your postgraduate training? Well, there is help at your fingertips, literally.

Just key in www.jobs2career.com and check out the Physicians for International Co-operation programme.

PIC consists of experienced medical professionals who are directors for accredited residency training programmes and faculty members of prestigious American universities.

Also on board are IMGs and immigration lawyers dedicated to maximizing a graduate's chances of obtaining a position in an accredited postgraduate training programme in the United States.

How did PIC come about? "Because I've been here in the US for 10 years now and saw what the quality of physicians was like," says Kushagra Katariya, associate professor of cardiothoracic surgery at Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital.

Working with him are Mike McKenney of Jackson Memorial and administrators Sandeep Singh and Vivek Katariya in New Delhi and Bombay, respectively.

"While in India, I was amazed that Indians couldn't get into the medical training programmes here," said Katariya. "There were so many people from my medical school who were encountering hurdles."

PIC took off last year and received a tremendous response after being publicized on the popular TV show, Good Morning America. "At first, we couldn't accept too many graduates because our organization was small," says Katariya. "Some people dropped out after the initial screening. But the rest got into the programmes here -- at least 70 per cent got positions."

Every year, about 2,500 postgraduate positions are obtained by IMGs. The astonishing fact is that 45,000 IMGs from all over the world apply for the positions.

"The basic medical education is great in India," explains Katariya. "But we face hardships when you go to the next stage."

This year, the Nurses for International Co-operative Exchange took off. "In India, there is an abundance of nurses, but there are fewer number of hospital beds," says Katariya. "NICE has registered relationships with some of the most prestigious hospitals in the US, who will accept qualified nursing graduates from NICE."

PIC offers guidance and answers to questions such as what exams to take before applying; which programmes never accept IMGs; whether previous clinical experience is needed in the US; are externships or observerships helpful; how to maximize changes of a successful visa application; what is a 'fatal answer' on an interview, and so on.

"We do not charge any fee from the applicants," said Katariya. "They don't owe anything at all. The IMG owes jobs2career.com money only if he or she is successful at getting placed in a residency programme and actually begins the programme. That's why the company motto is: 'We succeed only if you succeed'."

The amount owed is about two months' salary, payable over the first six months to a year of the residency programme. "It doesn't pinch too much, especially when compared with the huge debt an average American graduate has at the same point in time because of loans taken to see themselves through medical school," says Katariya.

For details and the application form, check out jobs2career.com

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