The US House of Representatives has commended Indian-American Aseem Shukla and Richard Grady for their medical work in India.
"Madam Speaker, I rise today to commend the critical medical work that was recently performed in Gujarat, India by Dr Aseem Shukla and Dr Richard Grady," Congressman Jim McDermott said on the floor of the House.
Dr Shukla, the co-founder of the Hindu American Foundation, is a paediatric urologist. While Dr Grady is a world-renowned expert in paediatric bladder reconstruction.
McDermott said Dr Shukla and Dr Grady have assembled their team of physicians and medical staff in Ahmadabad and conducted 20 major reconstructive surgeries on children over
an eight-day period, with each surgery lasting over 12 hours.
"These children had serious urinary tract and genital abnormalities, which are the third most common congenital abnormality in the developing world.
These abnormalities leave these children and young adults shunned and at the risk of further severe medical conditions. By performing these surgeries, these physicians have not only saved lives, they have transformed them," he said.
Dr Shukla has been travelling to India twice a year for several years, with a commitment to build the much needed speciality of paediatric urology there with the support of the Hindu American Foundation, he said.
"This latest medical mission could not have happened without the generous support of International Volunteers in Urology, a non-profit education and membership organisation
founded in 1995 by Dr Catherine R deVries," the Congressman said.
IVUmed's primary mission is to make quality urological care available to people around the world. The organisation does so by organising workshops where both physicians and nurses are trained and teams perform clinical evaluations,
lectures, patient consultations and dozens of hands-on surgeries within a one to two-week period.
McDermott said Hindu philosophy teaches that Seva, or Service, if carried out selflessly, is the highest devotion.
"The compassion shown by this team of American and Indian physicians exemplifies this spirit. Their dedication in bettering the lives of so many children should serve as an inspiration to us all," he said.
"As a physician and the co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans, I would like to commend the joint efforts of the talented physicians and individuals
who made this medical mission such a success," said McDermott.