Military Medical Schools

Abstract

To the Editor.— Dr. Egan's EDITORIAL (219:1471, 1972) deplored the passage by the House of Representatives of a bill establishing medical schools under the US Department of Defense, and recommended the alternative— scholarships in our present civilian schools for students interested in careers in the medical departments of the armed services. The advantages of such scholarships over the establishment of military medical academies should appeal to the Department of Defense and to the Congress, as well as to those physicians familiar with both medical education and military medicine. The scholarships would be economical of teachers and of money; the medical schools would need only to develop teaching in the area of military medicine; and the Department of Defense would be spared a further responsibility. The government can offer the same contracts and inducements to the holders of military scholarships in civilian schools, as it would to students entering military academies.