Doctor Urges Public to Support Federal Aid to Medical Schools

Direct federal aid to medical schools in the United States is the only solution to the present doctor shortage, Dr. H. Jack Geiger, research fellow in Social Relations, stated in the current issue of The Nation. Otherwise, he asserted, in 15 years the country may find "socialized medicine" a necessity instead of an alternative.

Geiger, a former newspaperman now taking post-graduate work in preventive medicine and the social sciences, urged the public to take a firm stand for federal legislation to aid in construction of new medical schools and improvement of existing facilities.

"The crucial issue," he claimed, "is the lack of consistent and effective national planning and national policy on the supply of physicians and health facilities in the face of an explosively changing pattern of population, disease and health care."

Geiger noted that the Association of American Medical Colleges, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and at least some Senators and Congressmen are privately agreed that federal help is the only solution to the doctor shortage. The American Medical Association, however, has opposed several proposals in Congress for direct federal aid to the medical schools as an "entering wedge for socialized medicine."

Severely criticizing the A.M.A.'s attitude, Geiger pointed out that the bills included' "elaborate protection against federal policy dictation." He disagreed with the "generally unsubstantiated assertions that private philanthropy, industrial contributions and physicians' own efforts can do the job."

Social Issue

Calling the problem a "social issue," Geiger cited a shortage of both teachers and applicants as part of the difficulty in expanding the medical schools.

American medical schools last year graduated only a little over half the number of physicians needed to fill the number of internship positions open on U.S. hospital staffs, Geiger noted.