Donald Trump administration’s Assistant Attorney General, India-born Harmeet K Dhillon, waded into the ongoing H-1B row and slammed the US medical system. Citing the example of his father who was a foreign medical graduate and, Dhillon said her father was the only orthopedic surgeon for over 15 years in a rural North Carolina farming county. “Throughout America, there are shortages of qualified specialists, whether foreign born or otherwise,” Dhillon said.The post came amid an ongoing H-1B row concerning the medical field in the US. Republican senator Greg Murphy recently opined that H-1B visas are critical to address the shortage of doctors in the US. “H1-B Visas are critical for helping alleviate the severe physician shortage this nation faces. We cannot train enough American Doctors fast enough. We can’t let lack of knowledge of the importance of this program to affect patient care,” Greg Murphy, who is also a urologist, posted drawing flak on social media. Dhillon’s anecdote about her father and uncle came in support of what Murphy said as Dhillon said there is no use of “scapegoating” foreign-born doctors and claiming that H-1Bs are taking all medical jobs. “Our medical system is broken. American medical schools teach that gender is a social construct, that sex is not determined at birth, that drugs can fix everything. Worse, admissions to these schools are based on affirmative action and not merit. Hardworking white and Asian Americans are disadvantaged in admissions,” Dhillon said. “Perhaps we can address the problems with American medical education and the artificial supply limitations without scapegoating the foreign-born doctors who provide a critically necessary service throughout the country. Lying about and generalizing concerning the quality of their care (all board certified doctors have to pass the same tests every 10 years) or falsely claiming that H1-Bs are taking the medical school places of Americans, doesn’t advance any intelligent discussion about the issues,” Dhillon added.Like Murphy, Dhillon too was trolled for siding with foreign professionals and encouraging H-1B. “The H1B system is broken and needs reform. What does that have to do with medical education? Nothing, and it’s lazy to conflate the two broken systems,” Dhillon said. “I’m in favor of doubling our domestic med school capacity. It will take decades to do this. Meanwhile, Americans need good doctors. I have a hard time getting doctors in DC, of any background!” Dhillon wrote.
