More Women Doctors
There is one serious deficiency in the personnel of the medical profession which must not continue under a National Health Service ; it arises from hindrances to the admission of women doctors. Among the twelve London medical schools, all of them constituent schools of London University, one school, as Sir Ernest Graham- Little points out in a letter to The Times, admits women only, two accept a small proportion of women, and the remainder take none at all. •As long as this handicap continues the number of women who can qualify for the profession through the schools connected with the London hospitals is very small, and quite inadequate for the duties which ought to be entrusted to women in the sphere of medicine. The unwillingness of the schools to accept women is partly due to lack of accommodation, and partly, it seems clear, to prejudice. Sir Ernest draws attention to the fact that the Senate of London University has recently accepted the majority report of a committee appointed by itself, which recommends the opening of all the London medical schools to men and women on terms of equal opportunity. In consequence of this decision the London medical schools are likely to accept the principle, but to put it into effect is another matter. There is a great shortage of doctors today, and the National Health scheme when it comes into being will increase the demand. The argument that the admission of more women would impede the flow of doctors is not admissible, for it would merely ensure that more of them are women. In any case, a nation that can fight a world war is not incapable of arranging for the training of a few hundred women-doctors.
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