U.S. to increase medical student intake
POSTED January 3, 2010 - 16:47 | POSTED BY Jyoti Pal
Last edited by Harpreet Bhagrath on January 3, 2010 - 17:12
If the bill is passed, it would greatly benefit international students, including those from India. Post the approval of the bill, as many as 5,000 more Indian doctors will get access in the U.S. every year for their residency training.
Advantage: India
The approval will represent a victory for the AAPI, as it has been pressing the U.S. administration to raise residency slots for medical graduates to enable more international students to join post-graduate courses.
Vinod K. Shah, president of AAPI said, “The case is now with a special committee and most likely to get a nod. The administration is planning to allow a total of 15,000 more doctors to do residency training in the US.”
Out of the present cap of 18,000 seats for residency doctors, 16,000 seats are reserved for the U.S. citizens. Out of the remaining 2,000 doctors of foreign origin, Indian medicos account for 30 to 35 percent of the trainees.
Thus with an increase of 15,000 doctors in intake, 5,000 more Indians are likely to profit in the future. At present, more than 61,000 Indian-origin doctors are working in the U.S.
"Once the federal cap is removed, it will help many Indian doctors to specialize in new areas," Vinod K. Shah added.
The move is also likely to do good to India as it lately started recognizing post-graduate medical courses acquired by Indian-origin students in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
“An official notification has been recently passed and included in the gazette to recognize PG medical courses certificates obtained by NRI students from these countries,” Ketan Desai, President of the Medical Council of India, said.
The worry for the U.S.
The apprehension is that if the U.S. allows additional 5000 doctors to move in every year, the remuneration of American doctors will meet the same fate as that of computer programmers in America.
The entry of Indian medical students will lead to a significant fall in the revenue of American doctors, and provide food for thought for the AMA (American Medical Association) that controls the Medical Doctor population by controlling the MCAT (Medical College Admissions Test) in the United States.
