A decade from now, Florida is expected to be short 7,000 doctors.
The University of Central Florida is looking to tackle some of that.
Deborah German, dean of the UCF medical school, said Thursday the school wants to expand the training doctors get after getting a medical degree. The specialty residencies would focus on psychiatry, surgery and emergency medicine.
And it would offer the opportunity to get new federal money, German said.
“There’s an undersupply of doctors basically across the state and we’re going to try to meet all of the needs. And those are the beginnings,” she said.
UCF President John Hitt said with the new residency programs and the current expansions, there would be slots for 275 new residents each year at the university – more slots than graduates from the UCF medical school.
“My point is if you hear that nothing’s being done about (adding new) residencies, that could be true at the state level, but it is not true locally,” said Hitt.
UCF hopes to add the new residency programs in the next five years.
Abe Aboraya is a reporter with WMFE in Orlando. WMFE is a partner with Health News Florida, which receives support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
