America
US lawmakers move to speed up visa approvals for Indian doctors
By
Arun Kumar Washington, April 25
Citing a shortage of
physicians in the US, two lawmakers have introduced a bipartisan
legislation to speed-up visa approval for Indian and Pakistani doctors
slated to work at US hospitals.
Called the Grant Residency for
Additional Doctors (GRAD) Act of 2015, the legislation introduced by
Democrat Grace Meng and Republican Tom Emmer, both members of the House
Foreign Affairs Committee, would direct the State Department to speed up
the visa approval process for international physicians.
The
lawmakers say "currently, foreign physicians scheduled to serve their
residencies at American hospitals are encountering extremely long delays
in obtaining J-1 visas from US Embassies in their countries,
particularly in India and Pakistan".
The J-1 is a temporary non-immigrant visa that foreign physicians use to work in US medical residency programmes.
The
holdups have resulted in major dilemmas for those doctors and the US
hospitals -- many in rural and underserved communities -- at which the
physicians are set to work, they said.
In many instances, the delays have forced hospitals to withdraw offers from foreign physicians who had already accepted.
"The
excessive delays in approving visas for international physicians is
causing unnecessary havoc for those doctors and the American hospitals
that are depending on them," said Meng.
"This ineffective
approval process must be improved so that these doctors can enter the US
as planned, and provide the critical medical care needed in many
communities throughout the country," she said.
"As American
hospitals face doctor shortages, this important legislation will
increase healthcare access across the country by eliminating the
persistent backlog of J-1 Visas," said Emmer.
"By improving
oversight and training at US Embassies we can ensure our Foreign Service
Officers have all the tools they need to properly process each
application in a timely manner," he said.
"This bipartisan bill
doesn't just address issues important to the State Department and the
applicant; it will also benefit the patients of underserved hospitals by
giving them access to medical care when they need it most," Emmer
added.
With over a million doctors, the US has 24 doctors for 10,000 persons.
With
a membership of over 100,000 physicians, fellows and students of Indian
origin in the US, the Association of American Physicians of Indian
Origin (AAPI) claims to be the largest ethnic organisation of
physicians.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at [email protected])