1242 



"It's a bad price to pay," said John Wilson, one of 1,046 American 

 medical students enrolled in 1971 at the University Autonomous of 

 Guadalajara, Mexico, in acknowledging the difficulties they faced, "but 

 at least it's an opportunity. We were all forced down here. We're the 

 system's rejects, the dedicated fools who want to study medicine 

 regardless." ^^^ 



Ironically, the largest "American" medical school is not in the 

 United States but at Guadalajara, Mexico, which in 1974 enrolled 1,734 

 American students in its medical school. These students are potential 

 USFMGs. Professors at some of the leading American medical schools 

 have become concerned about the low quality of instruction that these 

 young Americans receive. At least as a partial remedy they have estab- 

 lished an unofficial program in which they devote part of their time 

 teaching at Guadalajara. The rationale for this new program seems 

 to spring largely from a professional desire to protect American medi- 

 cal standards which are affected upon the return of USFMGs. As one 

 medical professor, a participant, said : "We have to face the reality 

 that these students will come back to the United States to practice." ®^^ 



Congressional and Administration Views on FMGs Versus USMGs, 

 It is on this question of FMGs versus USMGs that the views of the 

 administration and some Members of Congress conflict sharply. The 

 administration sees the utilization of FMGs as an expedient for cop- 

 ing with the Nation's pressing medical demands. Thus, as Secretary 

 Wemberger told the House Interstate and Foreign Commerce Sub- 



«« John Peterson, "Our Doctors in Mexico." National Observer (June 14, 1971) 

 In Conf/ressional Record, June 18, 1971, p. S9423. For a general discussion of 

 the USFMGs, see the Stevens and Vermeulen study. Lynette Goodstine, of Manchester, 

 Conn., a second-year student at Louvain University in Belgium explained what appears to 

 be the attitude of many young Americans studying abroad : "Anyone who comes here has 

 to be motivated. You have to learn a new language, the school is constant hard work, and 

 it's diflBcult to get back into the States to practice." (Time, Apr. 16, 1973, p. 64.) 



«i'''In an attempt to Improve the level of training of the growing ranks of American 

 medical students in Mexico, professors from U.S. medical schools are going to Mexico to 

 give lectures and demonstrations for the American students. The professors, representing 

 such specialized fields as cardiology, hematology, orthopedics, dermatology, among others, 

 are collaborating with the Autonomous University of Guadalajara, a private school witli 

 1,734 American students making it the largest "American" medical school In the world. 



The first group of professors were seven cardiologists from Boston University. They 

 rpturnerl recently. One of the group. Dr. H. Emerson Thomas Jr., came away with admira-' 

 tion for these potential USFMGs. "They are just eager and hungry for Information," he 

 said. "You walk into a lecture hall and immediately things quiet down — they are ready 

 for business." 



Dr. Louis W. Sullivan, a hematologist at Boston University is going to Mexico in April. 

 The purpose of this academic medical venture is to improve the level of training of the 

 American students. As Dr. Sullivan said, "We have to face the reality that these students 

 will come back to the United States to practice." 



More than 50 American doctors are to go to Mexico on an unofficial basis from Boston 

 University, Western Reserve, Harvard, the New Jersey College of Medicine, Baylor, Tufts, 

 and the Universities of Minnesota, Florida, Southern California and Massachusetts. They 

 were invited by Dr. William D'Angels, director of medicine at Queens Medical Center in 

 Xew York, who is on leave to serve as acting director for clinical sciences at Guadalajara. 

 The professors spend their mornings doing bedside clinical instruction and the afternoons 

 lecturing. 



An assessment of Guadalajara was given by Dr. Robert J. Weiss, an expert on medical 

 manpower at Harvard. He visited the university last summer, but he Is not connected with 

 the new program. According to the press, he "painted a grim picture of well-motivated 

 young Americans struggling against a language barrier and chafing under a faculty that 

 forbids long hair, beards and dissent." Dr. Weiss and others agree that the main problem 

 is that the clinical training at Guadalajara does not meet American standards and that the 

 students often have difRculty passing qualifying examinations in the United States. Dr. 

 Weiss doubted that the new program could make up for these deficiencies. 



This situation, the press report noted, underscores "one of the biggest problems In 

 American medical care today : Even though there Is an acute shortage of physicians, 

 particularly in small towns, thousands of qualified Americans must go abroad to school 

 while foreign doctors are Imported to relieve the shortage." Of the 42,000 Americans apply- 

 ing to American medical schools last fall, only one-third were accepted. It has been 

 estimated the half of those rejected were qualified. (Robert Reinhold. "Professors Go to 

 Mexico to Train U.S. Students Rejected by Domestic Medical Schools," The New York 

 Times, Mar. 12, 1974, p 15.) 



