Med School Dean Says U.S. Needs Foreign Doctors

An associate dean at the Medical School said yesterday that it is unrealistic to cut off the flow of foreign doctors to the United States.

Alvin F. Poussaint, associate dean of Student Affairs, reacted to a statement made Tuesday in Chicago by Richard Warren '29, professor of Surgery emeritus, who called for a halt in immigration of foreign physicians to this country.

Warren told a convention of the American College of Surgeons that although many foreign doctors are outstanding, others lack superior training.

Poussaint said that foreign doctors licensed to practice in the U.S. are as competent as their American counterparts and are "frequently required in small hospitals that need full-time physicians to provide daily care."

"Foreign doctors fill the gap left by the shortage of places at American medical schools," Poussaint said. "Without them we would see a shortage of health care."