1243 



committee on Public Health and Environment 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 Medi- 

 cine of the National Academy of Sciences, disputed this evaluation, 

 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 

 f rorn 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 ? " 



Mr. Weinberger, who professed not to have "any feeling" that FMGs 

 "should take the place of anyone else," defended the use of FMGs on 

 grounds that they satisfied the Nation's need for medical personnel. 

 He insisted that this practice did not mean that "we are subjecting 

 our people to any less good care or that we are engaged in any practice 

 that is morally reprehensible." ^^® 



In the course of the hearing Secretary Weinberger revealed that he 

 did not know how many FMGs were in the American medical com- 

 munity, nor was he was aware of the fact that in 1971 the United 

 States licensed more FMGs than domestically trained physicians.^^^ 



Concern in the House of Representatives for the inadequacies of the 

 Nation's health services, particularly the growing prominence of 

 FMGs, appeared to reach a new level when on April 25, 1974, Repre- 

 sentative Roy introduced H.R. 14357, the National Health Services 

 Manpower Act of 1974. This legislation was designed to rectify man- 

 power shortages in the health professions. It included proposals along 

 the lines of those presented by Senator Kennedy on June 5, 1974 (see 

 below p. 198) that among other things would increase the Nation's 

 manpower resources in health services, reduce the number of post- 

 graduate trainee positions available for FMGs and thus limit their 

 inflow, improve the distribution of health services, and increase Fed- 

 eral Government support for health training programs.^^" 



*s Hearings, House. Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee, Oversight of HEW 

 Health Programs, 1973, pp. 53-54. Rep. Tim Lee Carter (R-Ky.) also took Issue with Mr. 

 Weinberger, noting particikarly the need to train American doctors. He expressed gratitude 

 for the FMGs in his area — "there are many of them— some Chinese and Koreans and a few 

 Cubans." But he added : "At the same time I feel that we owe It to our country to do as 

 much as we can to assure that the students are able to go to medical school or to malvc 

 it possible for them to go to school. We need as many American phy.siclans as possible. 

 We want to reach our quota In them I would suggest, Mr. Secretary." (p. 59.) 



Representative Symington was also concerned about the future of Americans who were 

 aspiring to be doctors but were being frustrated by the massive inflow of FMGs and by 

 the failure of adequate medical facilities. In an exchange with Mr. Weinberger, Mr. 

 Symington asi^ed if he would deny that FMGs were being taljen Into the U.S. against the 

 wishes of their governments and "certainly against the needs of their people?" Mr. Wein- 

 berger responded with a question : "Well, is the suggestion, Congressman, to say we will 

 turn them back and say, 'We will not permit you to practice in this country despite your 

 own wishes?'" But, the Congressman retorted: "I would like to see the resources of the 

 United States which are being used one way or the other used to bring the most effective 

 medical attention using American citizens to the service of the American people. The 

 dollar amounts that you spend on medical training in this country will stay roughly the 

 same but we encourage the medical schools to enroll more people, and it is more and more 

 difficult for the Americans to compete In their own system to the point where they have 

 lost half of the new market to foreign doctors." (p 57.) 



«« Ibid., pp. 5.5 and 53. 

 ' <•" Reg. William R. Roy, "Health Services," Remarks in the House, Congressional Record, 

 Apr. 2.0, 1974, pp. H3270-H3284. On May 9, 1974. Rep. Paul Rogers (D-Fla), 

 Chairman of the Public Health and Environment- Subcommittee of the House Interstate 

 and Foreign Commerce Committee, also Introduced a medical manpower bill designed to 

 Increase federal support for the training of doctors and other health professionals (H.R. 

 14721). (Congressional Record, May 9, 1974, p. H3767.) 



