America relies on immigrant doctors, but there's a stalemate over getting them visas

The US was already facing a shortage of doctors before the coronavirus pandemic. Now, the medical community is being stressed to its breaking point. There's a bipartisan bill aimed at getting them some reinforcements -- it's called the Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act, and it would make 40,000 unused immigrant visas available for doctors and nurses who want to come here to work. To put that number in perspective, nearly 30% of doctors and nurses in the US are from other countries. That's more than 37,000 doctors and 600,000 nurses. Today on KYW IN Depth, we're joined by two special guests to talk about the shortage of doctors and nurses and what's being done about it. Senator Chris Coons of Delaware is one of the original sponsors of the Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act, and Dr. William Pinsky is President and CEO of the Education Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG), the commission that vets doctors who are trying to get visas to come to the US for clinical training. See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information.

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