The situation of the 650 Jewish men and women who are graduated from medical schools each year and their future in the profession has been reviewed by Dr. A.J. Rongy, prominent physician active in Jewish affairs, in a guest column for Dr. S. Margoshes in the Jewish Day.
Looking ahead 25 years, Dr. Rongy predicted that “with but few exceptions” sere of the current Jewish medical graduates will become a medical director of any large national industrial corporation, “none will head the medical department of one of our great insurance companies, and that hut few will attain important positions on the medical faculties.”
In the immediate future, Dr. Rongy pointed out that an estimated 250 of the 650 graduates will seek: specialized training and will compete with other young doctors for scarce residencies. Because Jewish doctors are forced by prejudice to seek practice in the more competitive atmosphere of the large cities they will he channeled to a greater extent into specialized fields, Dr. Rongy declared.
Except for the Jewish hospitals and some of the public institutions, Jews are finding it most difficult to obtain a residence, he asserted. He also said that the Jewish hospitals do not provide sufficient facilities for offering Jewish doctors training in all specialized fields.
As a solution, Dr. Rongy recommended that in order to prevent the relegation of Jewish medical men to the “lowest rungs” of the profession, Jewish hospitals must be reorganized “with a view to establishing as many residences as may be approved by the Council on Education of the American Medical Association.” Pointing out this move may require extensive staff changes in some hospitals, he warned that “unless this is done very soon, the Jewish medical group throughout the country will be greatly handicapped in their progress and advancement.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
