No Title
Both MPH and PhD FMG\'s are in trouble.
I would like to share with you all an important information enclosed below. This was forwarded to me by my colleauges doing MPH now. Please verify the same. It seems that the law hasn\'t been passed yet but this definitely necessitates the need to be more wary of such situations. Note that though this does not state many problems to people in PhD courses, PhD students all over the States are growing increasingly disquieted. I suggest that SamSingh and whoever is already in the MPH program now to hurry and get into residency immediately before inconveniences interpose.
Date 27 Feb 2001 005125 EST
New visa norms for health professionals
(Feb 5) The United States has formulated new norms for foreign health professionals in the US.An outline of the new US policy in this regard was given to the Committee on Health,Education,Labor and Pensions of the Senate by Dr David Satcher, Assistant Secretary of Health and United States Surgeon General, while replying to questions on the sharp rise in demand for public health specialists.Replying to a question posed by Republican Senator from Maine Susan Collins,Dr Satcher stated that there would be openings in the region of 25,000 jobs in Epidemiology,Biostatistics,Community Health Practice,and Disease Control by the year 2002.In order to fill these essential positions ,the then Secretary of Health and Human Services Dr Donna Shalala, had asked the State Department to relax the tight immigration controls that exist for the entry of international medical graduates into the US,so that IMGs could be trained in public health.In the year 1999-00 nearly 3,200 IMGs were allowed entry into the US to undergo Such training. Missouri Republican Chris Bond said that the American Medical Association had expressed to him their fear that these IMGs would drop their public health training and seek hospital residency positions thus making an already crowded job market even tighter.In response Mary Ryan ,Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs told the committee that all consular officers in US embassies world wide had been instructed not to grant either H or J visas to IMGs undergoing training or trained in public health unless the circumstances were exceptional."It would be a form of fraud if you say that you will study for a master\'s degree or a doctorate in public health and soon thereafter enter a clinical program unconnected with your area of study(public health or healthcare or hospital management) and this we will not tolerate" she said.The Surgeon General also said that in areas like family health,biometry,aging, population genetics, epidemiology and in disease control where man-power shortages were crippling internationally qualified citizens would have no problems in securing temporary work permits in the J category if they met US Labor Department criteria.However in areas like Health Services Management and Health Policy where there were no labor shortages the Labor Department had been notified that eligibility for H1B visas should not be granted and the State Department had also agreed that J1 Exchange Visitor status would not be granted by it\'s consular offices outside the US."Our responsibility towards students in these subjects is limited only to providing them with an excellent education in our schools and certainly does not include employment in the US.These students should return to their native countries after they finish their course of study here" he said.He also said that the new Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thomson and Secretary of State Colin Powell agreed fully with this policy. The committee was chaired by it\'s ranking Republican ,Vermont\'s James Jeffords.However ranking minority leader Edward Kennedy was not present during the nearly three-hour discussion by the committee on employment in public health.
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