Speech #930311642

Then. we authorized a new program to encourage the development of primary care training opportunities in rural and inner city areas. then we have the requirement for medical schools to give comparable emphasis to the primary care such as that given by the schools to other clinical specialties. we also amended the present section of the law authorizing fellowships in family medicine by expanding this authority so as to include other comparable primary care. Then we had the problem of foreign medical graduates. Now. the original bill as proposed by the committee suggested that we should license all doctors nationally. we strongly agreed that the foreign medical graduate must be addressed. but we searched and found the appropriate mechanism to deal with the problem. namely the immigration laws. We amend the immigration law to require when alien physicians come into the United States that they be required to take the same test that is being required of those students who graduate from medical schools in the United States. In addition. we require foreign medical graduates to be proficient in English. both oral and written. In medicine it is very important that the doctor and patient be able to communicate accurately with each other.