Actually, that is a very good question.
In the USA a few years back there was actually a little surplus of doctors (the USA has only 4.5% of the world population, but we have over 10% of the doctors). So, for a while there were some plans to start some new medical schools but they were put on hold. I read just recently that Virginia Tech is starting a med school next year and there are about four or five other schools starting up in the next two or three years.
You can't just start a med school like you would open a new restaurant. You need a lot of equipment and classroom space. and you need very well qualified faculty. It costs a lot to educate a doctor, way more than they pay in tuition. So a med school is a losing proposition for any university that starts one. And, the new doctors have to have a place to practice - they have to be able to go into a hospital and see patients. So, you can't just march 1000 new student doctors into a hospital - you have to have a proper setup in the hospital... that takes a lot of planning.
And, the other answers are right. You can't just say, who wants to be a doctor!? -- you can only take in kids who are well qualified! There might be an unlimited supply of people who want to be doctors, but there is not an unlimited supply of QUALIFIED people.
2007-01-29 10:40:13
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answer #1
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answered by matt 7
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I don't know for sure, but I expect for the same reason that it's very difficult to get into nursing school: Resources. In order to become an accredited medical school, there has to be a lot of money going into the program. It's very expensive to teach many of the courses, because they have to be so small (you can only take so many people into the ER at one time as a class), but you still have to pay the faculty person to teach a full class. In nursing, the tuition the students pay sometimes does not even cover the cost of paying the nursing faculty. So, the money has to come from other programs. You have to have the hands-on hours in order for the graduates to get licensed after graduation. There is also a shortage of faculty - when most faculty could make more money actually working in their fields, you must find good faculty who want to teach and who's main motivation is not the size of their paycheck. Additionally, medical programs are expensive for the universities that host them because there are many additional expenses in these programs that the average college student doesn't have - for instance, liability/malpractice insurance. (Yes, those student doctors and nurses must be insured for malpractice, before they can ever even go in a hospital.) It's expensive to operate the school labs, where no income is generated, but the school still must buy medical supplies and equipment for students to practice with. Many of these costs are passed on to students, but not all. So, the only way for a university to actually _afford_ a medical/nursing program is for them to have contributing alumni (and for that you have to have graduates) and additional grant money (and for that, you have to have good faculty for the grantors to give the money to (grant money goes to the faculty person in charge of the project - not the institution.)
2007-01-29 18:36:06
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answer #2
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answered by redlips1487 3
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I don't know about the shortages of medical schools but a shortage of doctors isn't a reason to be less rigid in their standards.
2007-02-06 04:29:44
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answer #3
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answered by Jade 4
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Because, as fine a chair-holder-downer as he may be, we don't really want cousin Joe Bob working "under the hood" of a human being.
I don't know about you, but I'm really glad that the person who pokes around inside of me if I need it is really smart and was willing to work VERY hard first to get in, and then to work through medical school.
Opening a medical school is very expensive, and there is actually a lot of politicking involved with the creation of a new university program of any kind.
2007-01-29 18:38:51
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answer #4
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answered by goicuon 4
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because there is a shortage doesn't mean you should just accept any Joe-shmo especially when peoples lives and welfare are at risk
2007-01-29 18:28:02
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answer #5
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answered by Cory S 3
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