Should the US stop the importation of Indian doctors?

[Law2Doc]

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In the US, there is 1 doctor for every 390 patients. In India the ratio is 1 to 1700. I think it is incredibly unethical for the US to recruit from developing countries where there is a severe shortage of doctors, especially in really poor countries like India or in Africa. Some people compare doctors to IT workers or bankers and say it's the same brain drain in every field, as if that justifies it. It doesn't. Doctors are different. Their main purpose in life is to help people and save lives, not chasing the almighty dollar like in those other fields, and since they are trained on their taxpayers' dime, they also have a duty to repay that education by serving the very people who paid for their education. It's unethical for us to poach doctors from these poor countries, and it's equally unethical for those doctors to leave their people behind for their own selfish gains.

What do you mean by "recruit"? We just allow people to apply -- certainly don't seek foreigners out. The system is set up in a way that discourages more than it entices. And we rarely take them, statistically. It might be foolish for India to grant visas to these people to train elsewhere, but it's a country with a world presence and it's own ability to govern. And I think you are throwing around the phrase "unethical" too generously. Ethics doesn't really enter into it. Wouldnt it be similarly UNethical to deny people the opportunity to apply to a place that perhaps provides better training or more infrastructure, so they could advance their skills? Is it ethical to force people to live in poverty and not be able to give their children a better life, simply because they had the misfortune of being born elsewhere? We have a system in place. People apply if they are interested. We do very little in the way of recruitment or even encouragement of foreign grads. But if they make the grade and want to advance their skills and make a better life for their families and add to the fabric of this country, that's not such a bad thing.if India wants to stop this, they should. But they apparently don't and so its absurd for us to assume their governance role.

 

[deleted480308]

I'll go farther and say it wouldn't be unethical to buy a ton of billboards there that say, "the grass is greener her, come on over for more money!". Those docs have a right to go where they feel works for them