Controversy Bogs New Medical School Plans

              In Southern States ca 1972
Controversy Bogs New
Medical School Plans
ATLANTA, Ga. (AP) - Con-
Itroversy has arisen in several
Southern states over proposals
to build new tax-supported med-ical
schools to help existing
institutions remedy a doctor
shortage.
Some of the opposition has
come from administrators of
existing schools who fear the
construction of new colleges
would make it harder for them
to get increased appropriations.
But, against that, medical
associations have warned that
existing facilities are too limited
to meet the demand for doctors.
A proposal to build a new
school at Columbia, S.C., under
the University of South Carolina
has stirred considerable contro-versy.
The Medical University of
South Carolina, now the only
state-supported medical school
in South Carolina, opposes the
proposal on grounds the state
can't afford two schools.
The only way South Carolina
can operate two schools is for
one of them to be second-rate,
says state Sen. Allen Carter of
Charleston.
At the request of Gov. John C.
West, a legislative-governor's
c o m m i t t e e is attempting to
learn whether the Charleston
school alone can meet the need
for doctors and other medical
(personnel.
1973 Plan Deadline
West, who backs the proposal
for a new school, has set a
deadline of early 1973 for the
committee's report.
North Carolina has partially
resolved its problem by building
a o n e - y e a r school at East
Carolina University in Green-ville,
which is in the far eastern
part of the state.
ECU originally w a n t e d a
four-year school but ran into
stiff opposition from officials of
the Consolidated University of
Carolina.
The only other tax-supported
school is at the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
near Raleigh and Durham.
At one point in the debate
over the need for a second
school, Goy. Bob Scott lost
patience with both sides, de-scribing
as "little children" the
presidents of the University of
North Carolina and ECU.
The Greenville school plans to
admit its first students next fall.
Bitter opposition has been
voiced in Tennessee to construc-tion
of a new state-supported
school at Johnson City, in the
northern part of the state.
.Gov. Winfield Dunn has said
Tennessee can't afford it and is
actually too strapped for money
to fund properly the University
of Tennessee medical units.
The legislature, however, has
agreed to send an eight-man
team to Washington to press for
inclusion of Tennessee in legis-lation
setting up as many as 10
new medical schools across the
nation to operate in tandem
with Veterans Administration
hospitals.
J o h n s o n City has such a
hospital, located next to the
campus of East Tennessee Uni-versity,
which would operate the
proposed new school.
The Tennessee Higher Educa-tion
Commission has opposed
the whole idea, contending that
t h e University of Tennessee
must have full claim on the
state's medical dollars.
Despite the wrangling that
invariably accompanies propos-als
to build new m e d i c a l
schools, Alabama and Louisiana
have been able to move for-ward.
Louisiana S t a t e University
opened a new Shreveport school
in 1969 and has been admitting
32 students each year.
The enrollment will be more
than tripled in 1975.
Alabama plans to open a
school at the University of South
Alabama in Mobile next fall
with an initial enrollment of 25.
The city and county commis-sions
of Mobile have deeded the
city's general hospital to the
school.