By 2030 US to face 121,000 doctors deficit

The practice of medicine in the US may well find itself in intensive care, with a deficit of 121,000 physicians projected for 2030, even as foreign-born doctors struggle to get licensed.

According to the Association of American Medical Colleges(AAMC), the deficit scenario could be alleviated if the procedures wherebythousands of foreign physicians get certified, is not streamlined.

   

The most recent AAMC report said that in particular therewould be shortage in four broad categories: primary care, medical specialties,surgical specialties and other specialties.

“The US has an enormous scarcity of doctors but thosewho are trying to validate their degrees here, when they finally get them, don’tfind it easy to work,” immigration attorney Tammy Fox-Isicoff told EFE.

“I admire the dedication with which these doctors aredevoting themselves to the course of study. They are completely focused ontheir studies and are participating in all the activities that we’re organisingfor their training, including … on the weekends,” Julio Giron, the headof the Kaplan Test Prep headquarters in Miami, told EFE.

The company with offices in Chicago, Pasadena, New York andHouston, specializes in preparing people to take dozens of standardised testsand licensing exams, including the US Medical Licensing Examination, and laterfor their residency period in hospitals and medical centres.

A foreigner or immigrant who graduates from a medicalprogram in their homeland — after, on average, seven years of study — whowants to make the difficult transition to pursuing the medical profession inthe US first must get through the procedure to acquire a student visa and takean English exam.

Then, they have to study in the US for an average of aboutthree years to be able to pass the four exams making up the USMLE and be ableto foot the bill for all that study and test prep with online courses costingup to $30,000.

Finally, the years of residency remain and the length oftime spent in this phase depends on the area of specialty.

Even if they make it through the entire process, theimmigrant doctors face the dilemma of how to work in the US when their studentvisas have expired.

The procedure, Fox-Isicoff said, includes applying for a Jvisa, which is granted in situations where someone is obtaining professionaltraining but it obligates the recipients to return to their countries of originfor two years when they have finished the residency period, thus running therisk that they will “lose their contacts and forget what they (learned)here”.

The other option would be to compete for one of the 65,000H1B visas, which are the ones employers extend to professionals after theygraduate — and they are much in demand.

The scenario has gotten more complicated because of thetightening of immigration policies by the Donald Trump administration.

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