More foreign-born doctors practice in rural areas, come from poor nations, study finds

More than 15 percent of physicians in the U.S. received training in lower-income countries, including India, Pakistan and the Philippines, a peer-reviewed study found, reports Lori Kersey of The Charleston Gazette. The study was a joint effort by the National Research Council and the Stanley Medical Research Institute, and was published online on PLoS ONE. Most doctors from low-income countries practice in low-income areas of the U.S., where most U.S.-trained doctors don't usually want to go. West Virginia has the most doctors trained in low-income countries, at 29 percent of all physicians in the state.

The authors of the study said low-income countries where most doctors immigrate to the U.S. lose more money training them than they receive in U.S. foreign aid. In 2010, the Philippines spent $1.7 billion training more than 20,000 doctors who then came to the U.S., but was only given $33 million in U.S. foreign aid. The authors suggest the U.S. should pay those countries back in some way. (Read more)