JACKSON Miss.
While many foreign doctors are drawn to the United
States to treat underserved poor and rural
areas, some experts and health officials say the physicians are needed more at
home.
The call by developing nations to stop the practice of
recruiting foreign doctors the so-called “brain drain” has been
getting louder in recent years.
Dr. Fitzhugh Mullan of George
Washington University
said the U.S.
must stop looking elsewhere to fix its problems. He compared the practice to
“poaching” and said it amounts to poor citizenship in the world
community.
At least 20 countries export more than 10 percent of their
physician work forces to richer nations, Mullan said.
Every doctor that leaves a poor nation leaves a hole that
likely won’t be filled, he said.
“That creates enormous problems for the (source)
country and for the educational and health leaders in the country who are
attempting to provide healers,” Mullan said.
