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http://www.timesunion.com/tuplus-opinion/article/Shortage-of-doctors-treatable-9652170.php
Upstate New York desperately needs doctors. More than 60 percent of the region's hospitals and clinics lack enough primary care physicians. A staggering 86 percent of upstate emergency departments have to send some patients elsewhere because of a shortage of specialists.
Yet state officials are worsening this shortage. The New York Board of Regents has instituted a moratorium on paid clinical clerkships, preventing international medical school students from participating in medical training. These students — who are predominantly American citizens and permanent residents who chose to study abroad — want to serve in upstate communities that need them. Denying them that opportunity is senseless.
Cities and towns across upstate face a doctor shortage of crisis proportions. There are only 98 primary care doctors for every 100,000 upstate patients. Buffalo and Syracuse have fewer physicians than the national average. In rural areas, the ratio falls to just 81 primary care doctors per 100,000 patients.
New York City, by contrast, has 123 primary care physicians for every 100,000 residents.
This dearth of physicians isn't unique to New York. America will lack up to 94,700 doctors by 2025. One-third of that shortfall will be in primary care — a category that includes pediatrics and family medicine.
Surely, state officials would try to mitigate this crisis by encouraging doctors to train and practice in the Empire State, right? Think again.
Under pressure from New York's medical schools, the Board of Regents is considering a ban on paid clerkships — the clinical rotations that students complete in their final two years of medical school. Hospitals usually provide these training services to American medical schools for free. Foreign medical schools — often based in the Caribbean — pay U.S. hospitals to offer their students clerkships.
Some medical school administrators oppose paid clerkships on ethical grounds, arguing that it amounts to treating human illness as a commodity. This line of attack is preposterous. If paying for a medical education is immoral, then U.S. medical schools should stop charging tuition.
Upstate New York desperately needs doctors. More than 60 percent of the region's hospitals and clinics lack enough primary care physicians. A staggering 86 percent of upstate emergency departments have to send some patients elsewhere because of a shortage of specialists.
Yet state officials are worsening this shortage. The New York Board of Regents has instituted a moratorium on paid clinical clerkships, preventing international medical school students from participating in medical training. These students — who are predominantly American citizens and permanent residents who chose to study abroad — want to serve in upstate communities that need them. Denying them that opportunity is senseless.
Cities and towns across upstate face a doctor shortage of crisis proportions. There are only 98 primary care doctors for every 100,000 upstate patients. Buffalo and Syracuse have fewer physicians than the national average. In rural areas, the ratio falls to just 81 primary care doctors per 100,000 patients.
New York City, by contrast, has 123 primary care physicians for every 100,000 residents.
This dearth of physicians isn't unique to New York. America will lack up to 94,700 doctors by 2025. One-third of that shortfall will be in primary care — a category that includes pediatrics and family medicine.
Surely, state officials would try to mitigate this crisis by encouraging doctors to train and practice in the Empire State, right? Think again.
Under pressure from New York's medical schools, the Board of Regents is considering a ban on paid clerkships — the clinical rotations that students complete in their final two years of medical school. Hospitals usually provide these training services to American medical schools for free. Foreign medical schools — often based in the Caribbean — pay U.S. hospitals to offer their students clerkships.
Some medical school administrators oppose paid clerkships on ethical grounds, arguing that it amounts to treating human illness as a commodity. This line of attack is preposterous. If paying for a medical education is immoral, then U.S. medical schools should stop charging tuition.
