A Shortage of Doctors - NYTimes.com
There is nothing “woeful” about the response of the country’s medical schools to the need for more doctors (“America’s Health Worker Mismatch,” by Kate Tulenko, Op-Ed, Sept. 14).
Facing doctor shortages of more than 130,000 by 2025, medical schools have committed to admitting and educating 30 percent more students by 2015. With 12 new medical schools established since 2002 and six more in the accreditation pipeline, along with existing schools that are increasing their enrollments, schools are on track to meet the expansion goal by 2016.
But many of these students will never be able to complete their training unless Congress lifts a 15-year cap on federal funding for residency training positions. The solution to training more doctors exists, but if we wait any longer, we may soon find our future doctors looking elsewhere for opportunities.
DARRELL G. KIRCH Washington, Sept. 20, 2012
THANK YOU. I’ve blogged on this before, but it’s good to see better statistics associated with what I’ve been saying for a while. More medical schools does not necessarily equal more physicians. Let’s see if I can drum up an action alert in my spare time that I have so much of. We need more future physicians and physicians alike having a unified voice to get the message to our reps. Solidarity!
