International medical-school graduates who have been recruited to come to the United States for further training and to fill a need for doctors in inner-city and public hospitals may feel betrayed by a move to eliminate such programs.
But American medical-school students and recent graduates who are facing thousands of dollars in education debt and stiff competition for jobs may get a boost from the proposal.The Clinton administration and Congress have proposed separate measures to scale back the government programs that have allowed graduates of overseas medical schools to practice in the United States if they agreed to provide care in the poorest neighborhoods in the country.
Critics of the legislation say the foreign doctors provide health care in areas where American doctors won't practice. But a University of Utah Medical School assistant dean says that belief is not well-founded.
Dr. Sam Shomaker, assistant dean for medical education, says an oversupply of doctors means American medical school graduates are having difficulty finding positions. There are incentives in place but not well-advertised to encourage young doctors to practice in underserved areas.
Dr. Shomaker makes a good point that American doctors, who now on average face $60,000 in debt upon graduation, would be willing to practice in poor neighborhoods with some economic incentive, including loan forgiveness or scholarship money. In Utah, the oversupply of doctors is having a more serious effect than would the elimination of the program for foreign-born physicians.
With current anti-immigration feelings at an all-time high, recruitment of foreign doctors doesn't make much sense.
In many instances, doctors who come to this country for training that is unavailable in their own countries would be contributing more by serving the poor in their native lands than by competing with the large number of doctors in the United States.
Foreign doctors who would have difficulty returning to their homelands because of political dangers should receive special consideration, but those cases are few.
Let's give American doctors a chance to show they are willing to provide health care to the needy and encourage foreign-born doctors to return to practice in their own countries.