1671 



Possibly one reason for the decline in concern is that the United States 

 has been acquiring rather than losing "brains." "But a more decisive 

 reason is that the issue itself is set in the context of a paradox: the 

 Nation is committed to the principle of liberalized immigration 

 policies and to the principle of international education exchange; 

 both would conflict with any administrative policies that could be 

 designed to reverse the flow of emigrating professionals." 



In the one brain drain sector which has attracted recent congres- 

 sional attention — that of the Foreign Medical Graduates — there have 

 been differences in view between concerned congressional spokesmen 

 and the Administration. The latter: 



. . . sees the utilization of FMGs as an expedient for coping with the Nation's 

 pressing medical demands. Thus, as Secretary Weinberger told the House 

 Interstate and Foreign Commerce Subcommittee on Public Health and Environ- 

 ment in March 1973, "I don't think in and of itself [that] is necessarily a bad 

 thing." 



However, Rep. William R. Roy (D-Kans.), a physician, faculty member of 

 the Kansas University Medical Center, prominent leader in the Kansas Medical 

 Society, and member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of 

 Sciences, disputed this evalution, saying, "May I suggest to you it is a bad 

 thing," and for these reasons: "No. 1, we have young men and women — probably 

 twice to three times as many — who cannot get in medical schools, who the medical 

 schools admit are qualified; and that No. 2, we are stealing these physicians 

 from other nations around the world who need them desperately." Dr. Roy 

 asked: "Now will you explain to me why it is not a bad thing when we license 

 over 12,000 foreign physicians?" 2" 



Concern in the House of Representatives over the inadequacies 

 of the Nation's health services and particularly over the groMdng 

 prominence of FMGs was expressed in a bill which Congressman 

 Roy introduced in April 1974: H.R. 14.357, the National Health 

 Services Manpower Act of 1974. The bill included proposals that 

 would increase national manpower resources in the health services, 

 reduce the number of postgraduate trainee positions available to 

 FMGs and thus limit their inflow, improve the distribution of health 

 services, and increase Federal Government support for health training 

 programs. On the Senate side, in June 1974 Senator Jacob Javits 

 sharply criticized the administration's position on the use of FMGs 

 to alleviate the doctor shortage. vSenator Javits pointed to the insuf- 

 ficient number of medical schools and inadequate Federal Govern- 

 ment support for "desperately needed medical, dental, nursing, and 

 other health profession schools." '^^ Senator Edward M. Kennedy 

 followed with a comprehensive critique of the administration's 

 health manpower policies. The focus of this congressional concern, 

 however, was on the domestic impact of the FMG problem rather 

 than its foreign policy implications. 



Status of the Issue 



The author of the study presents some "tentative generalizations" 

 on brain drain as a contemporary international problem: 



1. A changing world environment occurring over the past three decades has 

 •created unique political and economic conditions for brain drain to flourish as a 



contemporary international phenomenon. 



2. The political aspects of the brain drain problem are rooted in this changing 

 world environment, specifically, in the processes of decolonization that has 

 produced a "Third World" of independent states in Asia and America. 



2" /fijd., p. 1242-1243. 

 282 Ibid., p. 1244. 



