Utilization of 1,500 refugee physicians who are available for service anywhere in the United States could go a long way towards solving the acute lack of doctors in many parts of the United States, it was stated today in a report by the Committee for the Resettlement of Foreign Physicians appearing in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
This shortage is not due to the present national emergency alone, the report reveals. While the general population of the United States has been steadily increasing, the number of physicians has not increased in proportion. Moreover, there has been a steady shift of doctors from the rural communities to the cities, and in the past fifteen years this has resulted in a notable disproportion in the ratio of physicians to the total population between urban and rural areas. The situation has become almost critical in some areas, due to the added requirements of the army, the navy, and defense industries in this present national emergency, the Committee reports.
The Committee suggests that all state and federal medical agencies should cooperate with the American Medical Association in devising a plan to resettle emigree physicians. It also suggests that licenses be given to emigree doctors after they have passed standard tests with the proviso that the licensee be required to take out his first papers to obtain citizenship as soon as the law permits.
The report reveals that about 1,500 physicians have been placed by the Committee in the two and a half year’s of its existence with very satisfactory results in practically all cases.
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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.
