Foreign medical students help New York more than the state's do

The op-ed "Curb overseas medical schools" closes with the statement, “Protecting New York State’s clinical clerkship slots will allow our students to become the great doctors we need them to be.”

The author fails to mention that graduates of New York state medical colleges, who participate in clerkships in New York hospitals, do not practice medicine in the state of New York. In fact, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges, only 36.4% of graduates of New York medical colleges actually remain in the state to practice medicine.

The medical community has long argued that there is a critical shortage of family physicians. Yet New York medical colleges are not training students to practice in this area. According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, in 2013, New York University School of Medicine did not have a single graduate enter a family medicine residency nationwide. In total, all 11 New York medical schools had only 78 graduates choose family medicine throughout the U.S., a dismal 4.9% of their graduates. This year alone, the school I lead, American University of Antigua College of Medicine, had 71 graduates secure a residency in family medicine.
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In total, 41% of all residency positions in New York state are filled by graduates of international medical schools, the majority in primary care, which has the greatest shortage. New York medical school graduates leave the state, often times pursuing more lucrative specialties, leaving international medical school graduates to practice in our underserved communities.

If the deans of New York medical schools were really concerned about the education of the doctors who participate in residency training, they would be concerned that not enough clinical clerkship opportunities are available for international medical school students, who are much more likely to practice medicine in New York than graduates of New York medical schools are.

A diverse population deserves a diverse physician workforce. Caribbean medical schools, not U.S. medical schools, are responsible for creating a diverse physician workforce. The author of the op-ed states that minority enrollment has increased by 31%. The latest data from the Association of American Medical Colleges show the number of first-year African-Americans at U.S.-based medical schools has actually decreased from a woeful low of 1,417 in 2009-10 to 1,397 in 2012-12. The number of African-Americans at medical schools like AUA is more than double the percentage of African-Americans in U.S. schools, as is the number of graduates.

Denying U.S. citizens attending approved international medical schools access to clinical clerkships in New York will only result in a more critical physician shortage and a less diverse physician workforce in New York, while New York's medical schools will continue to educate physicians to practice in other states.