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Richard Balon, M.D., a consultant and former chair of APA's Committee of International Medical Graduates, is the first psychiatrist to be elected to the AMA International Medical Graduate (IMG) Governing Council by members of the IMG Section, who now number more than 2,000.
Balon, who is also the deputy representative of the IMG psychiatrists to APA's Assembly, told Psychiatric News that when the IMG Section of the House of Delegates was formed last year, the AMA Board of Trustees appointed a seven-member council and chair.
Four new council members including Balon will serve a one-year term, and three new members will serve two years.
The council will carry out the following mission of the IMG Section:
Balon, who attended the IMG Section meeting in June during the AMA House of Delegates meeting in Chicago, said, "The main issue discussed was the Clinical Skills Assessment exam required of IMGs who want to be certified by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG), which we consider discriminatory. The IMG Section also discussed the education of IMGs, efforts to limit the number of IMGs, and licensing."
The requirement that IMGs must take the Clinical Skills Assessment exam went into effect last month and is viewed as discriminatory because only IMGs are required to take it; it is offered only in Philadelphia and costs $1,200; IMGs often have better clinical skills than their American counterparts; and IMGs still have to take a separate English skills test, according to a June report by outgoing IMG Governing Council Chair Busharat Ahmad, M.D.
The IMG Section introduced a resolution in the House of Delegates asking that the CSA exam be required of all physicians entering graduate medical education, and that it not be implemented until validated by the National Board of Medical Examiners, the Federation of State Medical Boards, and the ECFMG.
While U.S.-trained medical students and educators agreed that the exam should be more accessible to IMGs, none were eager to have it extended, according to the July 6 American Medical News. Natalie Groce, M.D., an alternate delegate from the Medical Student Section noted, as did other resident leaders, that American schools are already required to teach and test clinical skills.
Rebecca Patchin, M.D., of the Council on Medical Education testified that the teaching of clinical skills was not comparable across U.S. schools and urged that the matter be studied by the AMA board before requiring an exam of all U.S. graduates. The resolution was referred to the Board of Trustees for further study, according to the July 6 American Medical News.
The delegates approved without debate a resolution urging the ECFMG to offer the test at multiple sites and at the lowest cost possible.
Also introduced by the IMG Section was a resolution asking the AMA, in the event of fiscal constraint, to support maintaining the number of residency training slots at a level that allows training opportunities for all U.S. medical graduates and IMGs permanently residing in the U.S., according to Ahmad's report.
Federal subsidies for residency training are being slashed to cut down on a perceived surplus of doctors, and the 22,230 slots held by IMGs are considered prime targets, according to the July 6 American Medical News. A previous report (American Medical News, April 20) referred to some residency programs no longer accepting IMGs in violation of federal law.
The IMG Section resolution was not adopted by the House of Delegates. The AMA, however, is preparing a letter to all residency directors outlining how they can comply with the law. They will be encouraged to consider all candidates equally, according to Ahmad's report.
For more information on AMA's IMG Section, go to www.ama-assn.org/