Arizona sun., 1949-11-11

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this law, Federal funds are avail
able to state and local communities
ON matching basis of one dollar
for every two dollars raised by To-
cal sponsors. But the amounts so
far appropriated cannot begin to
do the job necessary. And solid
expansion of this program is one of
the "musts" on the Presidents
agenda.
AS you all know we are also fac
ing a serious shortage in medical
personnel-doctors, dentists, nurses,
technicians.
Here we come plump up against
the problem of medical training ia
cilities. Our present facilities are
grossly inadequate, in terms of the
number of medical schools and COL
leges now available. A recent sur
vey shows that, throughout the
country, there are at least four
times the number of applicants that
can be accommodated in these
schools. Yet, isn't it absurd to think
that with our public health services,
our hospitals, our rural communi-
ties clamoring for more trained
medical personnel, nevertheless we
turn down four out of every five
youngsters who are eager to enter
the profession.
To build and equip the new med
ical colleges we need-and to ex-
pand our present facilities - pre-
sents financial problem that pri-
vate or state sponsorship simply
cannot cope with. Again Federal
subsidy is an imperative if we are
to make any substantial progress
in this direction.
In addition, the President is urg-
ing the establishment of Federal
scholarships and Federal loans to
enable exceptionally quail fl e d
young men and women to under
take the long and expensive train
ing which otherwise they could not
possibly afford. For here also is a
bottleneck which must be broken if
we are to make sure we get those
college students who are best fitted
to enter the profession.
Closely related to all this is our
expanded program for medical re-
search. Every day more and more
avenues of research are being
opened up, many of which may we'll
lead to new and vital discoveries in
the field of medicine. But here
also we are up against a shortage
of trained research personnel and
adequate facilities. Like every
thing else the cost of medical re-
search grows heavier with each
passing year. During the past dec
ade and a half much of the medi-
cal research done by the univer-
sites and other private institutions
has depended directly upon Feder-
ally subsidy. And at the same time
the research activities of the Pub
lie Health Service itself have grown
enormously.
| The President recognizes clearly
that most progress in medical sci
ence has its origin in the laboratory
and that every effort must be made
to continue this progress. And you
gentlemen certainly recognize that
| W1CA1OoC QUILL ICSC0I I'll IllQCll VI LllC
development in the field of drugs
and medicine would be badly
stymied.
Here, then, in broad outline are
the immediate health problems
with which the Presidents pro-
gram is concerned. It is a fully
rounded program, based upon a
thorough-going examination of the
overall health needs of the nation
and gauged to meet those needs in
a concrete and specific manner.
The drug business ,prospers not
merely because people are sick, but
through the efforts to make them,
and keep them, well. And that is
the focus of this entire program.
But there is another factor of
major Importance which GU S
across every phase of this health
problem. And that is: How are
people going to pay for the cost of
medical care? You know. as we'll
as do, that in most families to-
day a serious illness is financial
catastrophe. The American Medi-
cal Association itself is on record
as saying that only 20 per cent of
families can meet the costs of such
illness. That means that out of
families-those with incomes rang
ing up to $100 a week-cannot pay