The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1917-08-04
OFFICIALS PUZZLED
OVER EXEMPTION
Of MEDICAL MEN
Continued from First Pags.)


need for young doctors on the firing
line and in seeking their exemption,
the medical authorities are thinking
more OF conserving the nations
health after the war than about the
battle front. For the surgeon gen
physicians above military age to meet
the needs OF an army of 2.9O0, 900 men.
or about $4,000 physicians. To take
q, 900 men out OF 10000 available
doctors, dentists and specialists, is q
heavy drain. Just now medical boards
throughout the country, in every
State, county, and city, are enrolling
physicians for war service abroad.
But this brings UP another serious
thing. II too many doctors are taken
out of the country how will the
civilian sick be cared for? This prob
lem has been given a great deal Of
thought with the result that the War
Department has urged physicians
with dependent families not to en-
list, and has asked the local medical
boards not to forward the applica-
lions Of physicians who are abso-
lutely needed for the hospitals or
communities in which they live. The
War Department, for example, wants
| to take as few doctors as possible
from the rural districts and will ac-
cept the applications of only q pro-
portionate number from the cities.
The purpose Is not to leave any one
city or district without q eufficient
supply OF physicians to handle the
civilian sick.
Another Serious Question.
As for the young doctors who have
received their degrees and are prac-
ticing but who are still eligible to be
drawn under the selective draft law.
they will not be exempted unless they
have dependent families. The War
Department will see to II. however,
that they are not put in the fighting
branches OF the new national army
but enrolled in the medical corps.
Those who can pass the examination.
and most OF them will be able to. will
be given commissions and trained
frst for field service at the army
medical colleges and training camps.
The advisory committee OF the
Council Of National Defense has been
OF great assistance to the surgeon
generals office in enrolling physicians
| lOI NhI bGENlCN anu NO-OPNAaNAhR
with the state and county medical
boards to the end that the United
States army gets the best physicians,
those physically At themselves for
trench life and those who can really
| be spared by their communities
Some OF the same precautions about
taking away too many doctors apply
with respect to nurses. And IL there
is q shortage OF either II will be due
to the short-Eightedness OF the local
medical boards. The one phase Of
the whole problem that is bothering
| officials Is what should be done
about the medical students now in
course of those who planned to enter
medical schools next autumn but who
object to draft.
Might Bring Demand.
The fear OF the War Department
that to ask legislation will bring a
demand for other class exemptions is
partly justified by the requests that
have already come from Industries
actually engaged in war service such
as shIpbuilding and munitions. The
War Department has steadily resisted
all such pressure, believing that the
/ men affected by the draft are so few
in number that losses can be readily
filled by men above military age. But
the medical profession appeals only
to a limited number OF men each year
and since college work OF all kinds
has been hard hit by the war, the pos
sibility that FIVE or ten years from
now the country will suffer from a
lack of experienced SUPPLEMENTARY
will be lost in the warts recognized
by the surgeon generals office. Spe
cial legislation and an appropriation
to care for medical students who are
drafted but furIoughed, seems to most
observers here as the only solution
and one that Congress would not fail
to sanction.