Washington: A group of Indian-American physicians has donated $30,000 towards creating an endowment fund for Indian origin students of the University of Central Florida College of Medicine in Orlando, Florida. Uday A. Desai, president of the Central Florida Association of Physicians from the Indian Subcontinent (CAPI), presented a cheque to Deborah German, vice president of Medical Affairs and dean of UCF's Medical School at an event recently. "We at CAPI are a strong medical community, and are already doing good community service in addition to providing the best patient care," Desai said.

"This will be a permanent reminder of CAPI's commitment to future physicians and to assure that they are able to complete their medical education with the least amount of debt possible." The CAPI M.D. Endowed Scholarship will be given to students of Indian origin on the basis of merit and financial need, Desai said. In a message, Florida Medical Association (FMA) executive vice president Timothy J. Stapleton said: "The FMA is thrilled to have the opportunity to cooperate with the CAPI to provide assistance to Central Florida's medical community. "We hope that by working together, CAPI and FMA will be better positioned to reach our goals while overcoming the challenges that Florida's physicians face." CAPI is the second largest ethnic physician group in Florida state.