California's shortage of physicians is a statewide problem, but nowhere is it worse than here in the San Joaquin Valley, especially in rural areas. That's why it's so encouraging that planning for a new medical school at UC Merced is now well under way. Tanya Schevitz of the San Francisco Chronicle has a nice piece on new med schools in today's paper.
The UC system is also building a new med school at its Riverside campus. The Inland Empire is having the same sort of difficulties as the Valley when it comes to providing a sufficient number of doctors.
The state is looking at a shortfall of 17,000 physicians by 2015, Schevitz writes.
UC Merced hopes to have its new med school up and running by 2013, eventually expanding to 384 students. The hope, of course, is that a significant fraction of the students will be attracted to the school from Valley communities, and that many will remain in the Valley to practice after schooling and residencies.
I do not understand this so-called shortage of doctors. Medical offices are everywhere. Isn't anybody working at them?
I don't understand either.
But all to many doctors have a degree from exotic countries. In some of these countries a dog is of greater value than a woman. I like to see more doctors who studied in the U.S.A. or Europe. Prejudice? No! It's cultural.