March 26, 2013
It is bizarre that the idea of bringing in more foreign doctors as a way to drive down wages is never discussed. Readers of a front page Washington Post article on using nurses for some of tasks currently done by doctors must have been puzzled by this omission.
While allowing nurses to do work for which they are qualified would seem to be a win-win for everyone but doctors, it seems especially strange that this piece never raised the possibility of bringing in more foreign trained doctors as a way to drive down wages and save patients and the public money. This is done all the time in the case of nurses. Many nurses are brought in from developing countries, most notably the Philippines, as a way to drive down the wages of nurses.
There is no justification for not having the same approach to foreign doctors. Obviously doctors as a group are more wealthy and powerful than nurses, but news outlets are not supposed to adjust the news to suit the desires of the rich and powerful.
Comments