FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - August 9, 2000
Contact: Tim Clarke, Jr., AMSA Director of Public Relations
Daytime Phone: (703) 620-6600, ext. 207

The following is a letter to the editor concerning a Washington Post editorial "Fund the Health Service Corps" on 8/9/00.

Dear Editor:

The American Medical Student Association (AMSA), a major supporter of the National Health Service Corps (NHSC), hollered with joy after reading your recent editorial [8/9/2000; A24] calling for increased funding for the Corps. AMSA is actively working to promote reauthorization of the Corps as a fundamental element of the safety net for uninsured Americans and residents of urban and rural underserved communities. AMSA continues to praise NHSC for its place in medical education, its public service role, and its mission to serve in underserved areas.

As the future doctors of America, AMSA is committed to the preservation and expansion of NHSC as a vital component to providing health care to communities that lack access. We hope that the Corps can reestablish its presence among the medical establishment, and broaden its mission to include educating health professional students for the unique challenges of caring for the underserved.

It is outrageous that a program dedicated to serving the underserved in a country with over 44 million uninsured is in jeopardy. We need to not only continue funding but to expand it. With all the rhetoric in Washington around increasing access to health care--this is an easy solution. We have the doctors who want to serve--so why not give them the resources to do so?

Sindhu Srinivas, MD
National President
American Medical Student Association
1902 Association Drive
Reston, VA 20191