Harvard doctor claims ethnic bias

I know a lot of students go abroad to medical school because they haven’t gained admittance to a U.S. school. The most popular location for Indians seems to be India or the Caribbean. I have heard however that because these schools have the reputation of being less rigorous, life can be very difficult for those that go abroad to study or for foreign born doctors who want to later practice in the U.S. The Boston Globe Reports:

A Harvard Medical School assistant professor who was training to be a psychiatrist filed a federal lawsuit this week alleging that while serving in a residency program run by Harvard at a Brockton veterans’ hospital, he was discriminated against because he is from India.

Rajendra Badgaiyan, an assistant radiology professor for Harvard at Massachusetts General Hospital, alleges in his suit that he may not get his license to practice psychiatry because the director of the residency program was biased against Indian doctors and therefore made false claims about his performance.

What was it that let Badgaiyan to claim discrimination?

The suit alleges that after Badgaiyan joined the residency program in Brockton in 2001, Mushrush made “disparaging remarks concerning physicians of Indian extraction and about the quality of medical institutions and medical education in India.”

Ironically the Economic times reports (scroll down within the link) that a power group of Indian American doctors is urging congress to waive visas for Indian doctors:

The American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) has joined rural and inner-city healthcare advocates in demanding the renewal of the Conrad-30 programme that expired June 1, 2004.

The Conrad-30 programme allows foreign-born doctors, also known as international medical graduates (IMGs), to stay in the US after the expiry of their temporary J-1 work visas as long as they promised to work in America’s most underserved communities like the rural areas. Without this J-1 visa waiver, the affected IMGs are required to go back to their country of origin before being permitted to apply to return to the US.

8 thoughts on “Harvard doctor claims ethnic bias

  1. abhi,

    I’ve trained and worked with physicians trained in the US (I trained here) and abroad. My personal experience is that there is a lot of heterogeneity in physicians who get their MD in India. For one thing, we do four more years of school here (or most do). Some Indian trained physicians are among the very best and dwarf my American collegues. Some are just awful by training and by attitude and deserve to be kicked out of their respective training programs. What I have also found, is that some are very sensitive and if you point out that they don’t know something, or that here in America you have to do some extra things which come across as, uh, ‘kissing up’ to people not trained here (like volunteering to work in someone’s lab or taking extra duties or doing extra talks which get you in good with powers that be), they get really really offended. Oh, what am I trying to say? Basically, unless I know more about the specifics in a he said/he said issue, I can’t judge this. I believe there is a very real predjudice against foreign trained physicians which is just awful, but unfortunately there is also a cohort that is giving their collegues a really bad name.

    (also, MD are the initials of my name, not some pretentious reference to what I do : ) )

  2. Isn’t it the same in other professions too? People who have trained in foreign institutions are always perceived to be inferior to their US-trained counterparts. Some of it is justified and understandable. So are the anti-discrimination lawsuits I guess!!

  3. One cannot complain of recruiting awful ones for every Indian doctor has to go through the same process as anu US doctor to qualify for a residency program – the same USMLE, the same CSA and , presumably, the same interview if not that is outright biased from the start. This brown Sahib attitude has done us harm from time immemorial

  4. Well , Most top programs are very picky about the residents they pick – Foreign or American – They have to go through a series of interviews to be selected. If they are selected then they do really good – Harvard seems like one of the top institutions and this resident must have been a top candidate . I wonder why the discrimination.

    Some less popular programs are not able to fill any slots with american graduates ( thats what most prefer ) and they end up settling with FMG’s sometimes who have had multiple attempts in their USMLE’s. Thats when you may say some of them are not very well trained – but remember they didnt do good in their USMLE’s and they didnt do good in their interviews ‘they are just filling up seats that program directors have to fill up. Some US grads who have not done good in their medical school’s / usmle – have trouble in their first year of residency as well.

  5. Indian medical school admission is opposite to US. the system will never produce all good doctors. The admission to medical schools is based on one single test. Because of the sheer numbers getting in needs hard work, but less compared to US. And, unlike in US those do not get in that way can buy medical school education by money. That is by paying a tuition 25 times the actual tuition. Because being a doctor is a prestige that parents buy for thier kids.And, a doctor is god in India. Then the doctors who marry a US citizen and come to US , go through different set of rules now, and gets into residency easier. The doctors are the pampered kids of indian parents who were dotted, SO THEY WILL WHINE.They are raised to get exhorbitant dowries.

  6. BEING OF ASIAN INDIAN BACKGROUND AS A FIRST GENERATION INDIAN AMERICAN INDIANS ARE NEW TO THE GAME; THE CHINESE, JAPANESE, MEXICANS, NATIVE AMERICANS, PUERTO RICANS, CUBANS KNOW MORE THEN US;

    ONE THING THAT ME AND MY ORIENTAL AND ARAB FRIENDS WHO GREW UP IN THE US HAVE HAD TO REALIZE IS THAT IT IS EASY FOR WHITES TO SAY THAT WE “GREW UP HERE; STUDIED HERE; SPEAK WELL” AND PLAY US AGAINST THE IMMIGRANT ASIAN DOCTORS BUT WE HAVE TO SEE PAST THAT

    OR THEY PLAY THE ASIAN AMERICAN VS THE AFRICAN AMERICAN IN DIFFERENT WAYS

  7. YES

    I AGREE WITH THINGS

    REMEMBER THERE ARE MANY SOCIAL GAMES PLAYED AGAINST INDIANS

    ESPECIALLY ONES WHO GREW UP IN THE UNITED STATES

    IT IS A HELLISH INCIDENT BEING AN ASIAN INDIAN IN THIS COUNTRY THE SOCIAL GAMES THAT WHITES HAVE PLAYED AGAINST ME

    THE NEEDLING FINGER POINTING

    OH MY

    REMEMBER OTHER GROUPS HAVE BEEN HERE LONGER

    KNOW MORE

  8. Jesus. Indians already make up almost half the American phsyician force, and they aren’t even Americans. Now those invaders are litigating because we aren’t being nice enough to them.

    America is a real place with a unique history and culture. Sure, things worked out for us. But many of our ancestors died to make sure that happened. We have heros, villians, families, and a past. Just because you have a piece of paper doesn’t make you a citizen. And there is no such thing as “Indian-American”. Go away and stop complaining. This is why you have been discriminated against.

  9. Ok. Let me put this another way. If I went to India and tried to become a doctor to win prestige for America and to help our economy, what do you think would happen? I would find a lot of “racist” Indians.