Word: ama
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...matter of an over-population of physicians, the AMA's criticism has somewhat better foundation. The present number of physicians, if distributed properly, could very easily supply the nation's medical needs. But, as the bill is written now, the scholarship plan will never stimulate medical enrollment; and the stipend paid schools for additional students can increase the body of physicians only in proportion to the population growth. Without this financial aid to the schools, the AMA can expect a decrease in quality if not in numbers of the profession whose exclusiveness it so jealously guards...
...AMA is very much afraid of socialized medicine; it fears any successful relations between the government and the profession. Yet, in these days when taxes eat up the interest on endowments, the profession must look to the government for financial support. The compromise proposed by the government is a sound one. The AMA's fear merely reflects a pre-occupation with its own security as a powerful organization rather than a genuine concern for the plight of the nation's medical schools...
...immediate question is whether or not there is a doctor shortage. The AMA terms the emergency in medical education "fictitious;" they point to the fact that the number of physicians has increased 14 percent over the years 1940 to 1948 while the general population has grown only 12 percent. With normal efficiency, the AMA feels, one doctor should be able to care for a population of 1200 (this presumes adequate health workers to help the doctor). The present ratio of doctors to total number of people is about 1 to 730 and, if the new bill is passed as such...
Actually, the AMA's deductions are consistent with the report made in 1932 by the Commission on Medical Education headed by President Lowell. That study predicted that if the maximum number of medical students graduated per year the physician population ratio would be 1 to 740. Furthermore, the report expressed the opinion that even with an average number of students graduating yearly, the medical profession was becoming overpopulated...
...AMA's opposition has changed sections of the bill, too. The present form that "scholarships shall be awarded only in fields in which there are not enough qualified applicants to fill enrollments," nearly eliminates pre-medical students because there is at this time such an over-population of qualified premedical applicants...