Across the world, countries are taking steps to increase the number of medical professionals available to help address the coronavirus outbreak.
In the United States and other countries, medical schools have allowed students to graduate early to help address a shortage of nurses and doctors.
Now a bipartisan group of senators is proposing legislation that would make it easier for foreign-born doctors and nurses and nurses to practice medicine in the United States.
Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Il.), David Perdue (R-Ga.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), and Chris Coons (D-Del.) introduced legislation on Monday that would “recapture unused immigrant visas” for doctors and nurses.
“Consider this: one-sixth of our health care workforce is foreign-born. Immigrant nurses and doctors play a vital role in our health care system, and their contributions are now more crucial than ever. Where would we be in this pandemic without them?” Durbin said in a statement.
He continued, “It is unacceptable that thousands of doctors currently working in the U.S. on temporary visas are stuck in the green card backlog, putting their futures in jeopardy and limiting their ability to contribute to the fight against COVID-19.
Perdue said that the pandemic has “exacerbated” a shortage of doctors and nurses across the country, “Fortunately, there are thousands of trained health professionals who want to practice in the United States.”
“This shortage is critical and needs immediate attention so that our healthcare facilities are not overwhelmed in this crisis,” he added.
The proposal would allocate 25,000 unused immigrant visas for nurses and 15,000 unused visas for doctors. It would also require the State Department to expedite the process.
And it would require that doctors and nurses who file for the visas to that “attest that immigrants from overseas who receive these visas will not displace an American worker.”
Additionally, it would limit the time available to file for the visas to “90 days following the termination of the President’s COVID-19 emergency declaration.”