More on Covid-19

WASHINGTON: New York and New Jersey have taken the lead in temporarily drafting foreign medical graduates — hundreds of Indians among them — in addition to enlisting retirees and medical school students, to join the battle against the coronavirus epidemic.Governors of the two states have signed executive orders this week waiving licensing requirements or granting temporary licenses to foreign-born and foreign-licensed physicians in the US for training, in an effort to relieve pressure on the current overstretched work force and in anticipation of a huge spike in Covid-19 cases over the next few weeks.The changes could see more than 1000 Indian physicians and medical graduates who are currently in the US on J1 and H1B visas join the battle, particularly if other states follow suit and Washington endorses the move. Every year, roughly 4,000 foreign physicians – and notwithstanding the shortage of doctors at home, a third of them are from India — come to the US on J-1 visas for residencies at teaching hospitals, mostly with the intent to immigrate.But because of tight restrictions, only a few hundred are able to do so despite going through an expensive three-step US medical licensing exam to get accepted into a residency. The Conrad 30 program, the main route to foreign doctors’ immigration, offers waivers to only 30 physicians in each US state who agree to practice where the government has designated a healthcare worker shortage, mostly in rural areas. Doctors can also obtain waivers through the Department of Health and Human Services by conducting medical research in a field that is of interest to the agency or by practicing in underserved areas designated by the agency. This opens the doors to only about 2000 foreign physicians annually.Given this situation, many Indian physicians train in the US and then decamp to other western countries that are more hospitable in terms of immigration. Despite this there are an estimated 100,000 doctors of Indian-origin in the US, — many of them having immigrated when things were easier — including second-generation Indian-American physicians.Nearly three in ten US physicians (29 per cent) are foreign-born, besides, 22 percent of nursing assistants and 38 percent of home health aides. Altogether, foreign-born workers make up 17 percent of the US health care and social services industry.As with many other things, the coronavirus pandemic is forcing American politicians to rethink policies to come up with ways to streamline and channel foreign medical graduates into the US system at a faster pace, although the New Jersey notification makes it clear the waivers are temporary.