European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 4, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                8 the stars and stripes August 1977 by Barbara Cillen staff will or Heidelberg Millry phys dans Are becoming rarer and the Progno Sis is that there will be fewer still before there Are the doctor shortage is nothing it has been Canning since the doctor draft ended in what new is that it Hansar Rived and is How Short is Short according to a Washington Post the army has 3to infilled physician positions out of a doctor Force of under the air Force Short am is my and the Navy figure is last Robert the de sense department senior health official told a House armed services committee panel that by 30 of this the Pentagon will have about physicians in the various military a shortage of per this is in addition to the fact that Mili tary medical departments Are authorized fewer physician today then in Walling leks but this is not saying health care is not As medical spokesmen for the military commands in Europe the effect the shortage will have on patients translates into longer waiting times and less ability to get a problem taken care of in a dispensary or already two clinics in Germany have been consolidated with other nearby facile personnel at Babenhausen who cannot be treated by the physician assist ant there will be bused to the 9lh medical dispensary at personnel at bad kissing in will be treated at the Schweinfurt health fur members of those the doctor shortage is More then just an ugly for troops and dependents Riding the shuttle buses for 30 minutes and Silling in a second waiting roam for medical at the shortage is Leonard Public affairs said its the geography thai kills us our clientele number to if we could get everyone to live in one we could staff a medical Center that  quit Schodowsky said the commands real big problem is shortage of some specialists arc in such demand that they could write their own he All Are bul the another problem is the summer Tarnov medical graduate and seek in and those win entered the army through a deferment program or received financial assistance from the military finish their payback period and we Are authorized is we have approximately 5w in the Schodowski the number of physicians we have changes Day to depend ing on who gets off he what has helped create the doctor Short age is the fact that physicians Are banging up their uniforms As soon As their payback period is military  Forige waiting crowded waiting rooms arc typical in most Here is a scene at there is no draft and replacements arc hard to come incentive Choice of assignment and rank Are offered to physicians in Hopes of enticing them into an army that wants to join them but not enough have accepted George me com activity assistant chief of keeps track of the physician we saw it Bell said of the now we have to learn to live with the there is an enormous study going on to find out Why physicians coma in and Why they in years Post we were not As involved in keeping Young we Are going to take a Good hard look at what we Are now doing to make it he added that it physicians take a Long look at the big  see the military has something to too few apparently Are con Vinced that the big picture is for according to a figure of How Many doctors extend their hours is 10 to 15 another Factor contributing to the Short age is the number or physicians sent to school by the military for speciality train its hurry up and the 4th general dispensary in Darm by sell 1 of this we Cut 20 per cent to learn a special Bell it hurts us but helps the biggest inducement we have to recruit physicians the training pro we try to identify the Bright Burn those who will be leaders in their the shortage is not expected to last for medical personnel agree that the shortage should ease by one Way the army is attempting to Stem us flow of physicians leaving the service is to implement a we care they Are our not army Bell this new approach entails personal Ai Lent on to spot those physicians who go did extra mile and recognize we arc forced to butter utilize what we improved management is the Bell one medical spokesman said part of the reason for the shortage is the increasing number of the army is not the Only one suffering from a communities Are hard pressed for physicians be you used to read a Story in a news paper of a town advertising for a the Pentagon doctor shortage will be  now there Are Many towns advertising for More people go to the the pain we used to live we now go to the doctor another solution to the shortage in hire More foreign doctors and contract physicians on a retainer fee problems with this include budgeting and the fact that some people lend to look Down on foreign military medi Cal officials presently the army has 109 local nation Al slots out of the in they Are authorized filled and 28 of the 38 Dac slots they Are in addition 16 the 586 military slots authorized the the air Force hits authorizations for 29 local National physicians and 12 civilian Twenty four of the us slots arc filled and nine of the while the picture looks grim at medical personnel say service members will not be without medical Only that there will be longer lines and More Miles to travel to see a As one spokesman summed up the Situa Tion when dealing with a How can you make everyone Happy but Well try like hell two commanders fear manpower drop dispensary loss questioned in bad Bubo Cullen staff writer bad Germany the battalion commander in his shirt baseball Cap perched an his was presiding Over a giant picnic called organization when asked Tow Clos ing of the dispensary was being taken by the people of the he we read in the newspaper thai he shortage of doctors will have no Impact on the medical care we but then they close the clinic said Howard 2nd Field its hard to convince people up that we Arent gutting an erosion of Bene he said the dispensary donors and Dun lists have been transferred to the health clinic in nearby sch inf an Aid staffed by a physicians assistant assigned to the and a doctor assigned to the 3rd Ullh army Cav will take care of routine sick said to Dennis the physicians he and the doctor will take care of the majority of the military sick Reddix said those needing More care will be re erred to the medical facility m Schwein Furt or the Hospital in a Inutile bus will run during the week to take Active duty military and dependents to the clinic and the a 24hour ambulance service will be available to handle dependents will be Able cold packs from the Aid those requiring More than a cold pack will have to take the bus to the clinic in what do we have to offer people up Here asked John 2nd Ullh army Cav Many of the things people Are used to in a big we dont and then if you Lake out a few Basic like the medical it seems like youve taken out just about both commanders expect the new medi Cal arrangement to Cost their units Man instead of a Soldier seeing a doctor Here and returning to duty in a few commanders believe soldiers will need an entire Day to see doctors in sch inf Many people Are apprehensive about the medical care they will receive now that they have to ride a but 45 minutes to get to the said James Coic for army Community services one Man who is not apprehensive about it is 1st Larry administrator of us Schweinfurt wit i the facilities and equipment Clark j really believe we can provide better Core or the bad Kus Ingen people than they were getting