Evening star., 1942-10-30
Doctors
.(Continued From First Page.

Liebell, A.-C. Gray, Henry c. Mac
attee and William c. Goines.
The District of Columbia does
not contain within its boundaries
the rural elements of a State" the
report says. "Yet Washington func-
tionS as a medical center for the
surrounding areas of Maryland and
Virginia in the same fashion that,
for example, Baltimore functions for
the central, southern and eastern
parts Of Maryland. - g
13 Hospitals Report.
From the reports of the 13 GEN.
eral hospitals questioned 1t is found
that during 194l, 12,o79s Maryland
and 1888 Virginia residents were
admitted as patients. The total of
2O,017 admissions is 25 per cent of
all the admissions to these hos
pitfalls during the year. In addi-
ton, 1850 persons residing else
where outside the District were ad-
mitted to these hospitals during the
same year. .
From these figures, it can be
estimated that Washington provides
disqualification for a population of
approximately 100000 persons resid-
Ing in Maryland and Virginia and
Tor an additional $1,000 persons liv-
ing elsewhere outside the District or
a total of 100000, a figure which
agrees closely with recent estimates
OF the population OF the Metropoli-
tan Area.
The extent of medical care given
by the Washington physicians to
'olt of the District residents may
By measured by the information OBJ
tained from the physicians regard
ing the number of patients seen by
them in one weeks time. From the
qtestionnaires returned, 291 male
practitioners who examined a total
Of 29,474 patients during the week
OF August 80 to September S, the
proportion Of patients residing out
side the District is found equal to
Is per cent.
975,000 Population Served.
ron the basis Of this percentage,
I'D could be estimated that the total
population served by Washington
physicians equals 975,O00. That this
figure is smaller than that obtained
f2r the population served by Wash
i4gton hospitals is explained by the
f4ct that the surrounding counties
have almost no hospital facilities
but do contain considerable num-
bSr Of physicians.
s'Using this population estimate
al base, the whole ratio of ply
sicians to population is 10.1 per
10000, and the ratio corrected for
afe equals 9.3 per 10000. A COM
parison of these ratios with those
found in Baltimore city leads to the
conclusion that the reduction Of
piivate practitioners in the former
city has not yet reached critical
level"
Shortage of Doctors Seen.
Theodore Wiprud, secretary OF the
committee who is also secretary of
the District Medical Society, said
that If the war continues two or
more years, there undoubtedly will
be q shortage of physicians to care
for the civilian population here. It
Would be inexcusable, therefore. he
warned, not to make plans to meet
the situation. That is what the
Medical Society is proceeding to do,
to study measures that may have to
be adopted in the event of an emer-
gency."
In line with this, the following
recommendations of the Public
Health Service report were approved:
Il. That steps be taken promptly
10 insure the most eficient use of
the remaining private medical IA
ci1ities in the community.
q. That the high proportion Of
specialists in the community raise
the question of whether some of
them could not be Influenced to
engage in general practice.
3. That measures decided on to
meet medical needs should be d.
rected toward increasing the number
Of fpatients seen by a physician In a
given time, and to.equalize the extra
burden arising from the emergency.
Reference Is then made to clinics
now believed to be under discussion
by the District Medical Society.
~. That together with such reor-
ganisatiun OF medical facilities the
medical bureau of the District Medi-
cal Society might serve as q direct
Ing and integrating center for dis.
tribution Of medical care"