Two Indian doctors elected to the World Medical Association-Junior Doctors’ Network

Two doctors from India have been elected to the World Medical Association Junior Doctors’ Network (WMA-JDN).

Dr Shiv Joshi has been elected the WMA-JDN Medical Ethics Officer, for the third time, and Dr Venkatesh Karthikeyan as Publications Director. The developments took place at the recent WMA General Assembly in Helsinki, Finland.

While there are two Indians on the 10-member team, the Asian region finds strong representation too, with doctors elected from Malaysia, Pakistan and S Korea.

This will bring in greater representation to the voice of the global south when policies are being shaped, Joshi told businessline. For example, he points out, issues of workplace violence are not restricted to India. In global policy-related advocacy to ensure workplaces are safe, Joshi said, his task would be to ensure all ethical aspects of this policy are covered, it is not discriminatory and was inclusive of gender, ethnicity, culture etc, besides having grievance addressal mechanisms for people.  

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Karthikeyan’s role involves WMA-JDN publications looking at public health issues but with doctors as its audience, he said. His role would also be “to lead the publication team, ensuring design of educational materials, quality and relevance of all published content.”  Karthikeyan is presently National Convenor (Antimicrobial Resistance Committee) with the Indian Medical Association.  He is a Senior Resident, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (Patna).

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The WMA-JDN serves as an international platform for junior doctors to facilitate an open dialogue of global events and activities that are relevant to their postgraduate training and the WMA, its website said.