The North Texas Indian Physicians' Charitable Clinic sees patients just two days a month, but with additional physician volunteers, it could provide even more services.

"We're in our infancy right now," says Raj Kakarla, MD, a DeSoto ob-gyn who was instrumental in founding the clinic in May 2000.

She says the clinic would like to expand its services and its patient base. The clinic-at 1513 Viceroy Drive in Dallas, off Regal Row-provides primary care health care at no charge. Volunteer physicians provide office consultations and prescriptions, with follow-up visits. Once a month a cardiologist does consultations. She says the clinic would like to provide gynecologic services in the future.

Patients are not charged for physician visits. They pay lab fees at cost, thanks to an arrangement with the lab. "We charge them exactly to the dollar," Dr Kakarla says.

A group of North Texas Indian physicians, who formed a corporation called North Texas Indian Physicians Charitable Trust and have nonprofit status, started the clinic. The idea originated several years ago when a committee contemplated various options, visited similar clinics, and consulted with physicians and nonphysicians in the community. The group's parent organization, the Northeast Chapter of the Texas Indian Physician Association, supports 13 clinics in India. The Dallas clinic is the fourth such clinic in the United States, with others in Chicago, Boston, and Detroit.

"Knowing about those clinics gave us an incentive that we can do something for our people here," Dr Kakarla says. "A lot of our families are first-generation immigrants. They have no insurance and they need some help, so that's why we started the clinic.

" We'd been trying for awhile to open the clinic, and we had hurdles to face," Dr Kakarla says. "We had to get insurance coverage and liability coverage, and make sure we're doing it the right way."

Dallas Indian physicians and nonphysicians support the clinic in numerous ways. A physical therapist, Sane Chary, donates his office building for the clinic. Some 15 or 20 physicians volunteer to see patients at the clinic, while many more pool their pharmaceutical samples to distribute at the clinic.

The group has advertised the clinic in the community magazine Bharati, but has yet to publicize it in more mainstream publications because of the anticipated influx of patients that would bring.
"We want time for the clinic to grow a little and offer more services," Dr Kakarla explains.
The clinic is open from noon to 2 PM on the first and third Sundays of each month. The two or three physicians who volunteer each session see about 25 patients in those two hours. Other Indian physicians volunteer as support personnel, as do nurses from the Indian community.

"We started on a small scale," Dr Kakarla says. "Our long-term goal is to serve people who are needy in the Dallas area at large. We don't want to restrict it to Indian immigrants. We need all the help of the Dallas County Medical Society so we can expand.

"God gave us this ability, and we need to share it," Dr Kakarla says. "We are fortunate, and we need to share our good fortune."

The clinic receives financial support from the Northeast Chapter of the Texas Indian Physicians Association.

"They support us financially at this point," Dr Kakarla says. "Otherwise, we have nothing." And she's hopeful that that relationship will continue.

Dr Kakarla is president of the board of trustees, which comprises six physicians and three nonphysician community leaders, including DCMS members Narinder K. Monga, MD, and Harivadan Shah, MD.

The clinic needs more non-Indian physicians to augment the Indian physicians who regularly volunteer. Physicians who are unable to volunteer their time can help in other ways, such as donating pharmaceutical samples to be distributed to patients.

If you want more information about volunteering at this clinic or other community clinics, contact Connie Webster, DCMS director of community service, at 214-948-3622 or connie@dallas-cms.org.