Too Few Minorities in Health Care, U.S. Study Finds
/- Combined Blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans make up only 6% of all Doctors
The United States needs more black, Hispanic and
American Indian doctors and nurses if minorities have any hope of
catching up to whites in terms of the quality and accessibility of
health care, a special commission said on Monday. While blacks,
Hispanics and Native Americans make up more than 25 percent of the U.S.
population, they represent only 9 percent of the nation's nurses, 6
percent of doctors and 5 percent of dentists, the Sullivan Commission
on Diversity in the Health Workforce said. "Access to health
professions remains largely separate and unequal," said Dr. Louis
Sullivan, a former U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services, who
chaired the privately funded commission that includes health, business
and education officials. "We know that minority physicians, dentists
and nurses are more likely to serve minority and medically underserved
populations, yet there is a severe shortage of minorities in the health
professions. Without much more diversity in the health workforce,
minorities will continue to suffer," Sullivan added in a statement.
Many studies have shown clear disparities in health care in the United
States. [more 
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