Assemblymember Dr. Jasmeet Bains introduced the Grow Our Own Doctors Act last week. If passed, the University of California (UC) system would have a year to build a medical school in Kern County, and if they don’t, California State University, Bakersfield, or the Kern Community College District would have the authority to do so.
According to a press release, the California Master Plan for Higher Education from 1960 gave the UC system exclusive authority to award doctoral degrees in medicine within California. The release adds that Kern County has been experiencing a doctor shortage since 1978 and that the Central Valley is one of the poorest regions in the state, with the worst access to healthcare. The release explains that the Central Valley has 157 medical doctors per 100,000 people, compared to 411 in the Bay Area, and that there are fewer than 45 primary care physicians per 100,000 people, compared to the state average of 156.
“We’ve been waiting on the UC to act since the Carter Administration,” said Bains in the release. “I wasn’t even born when the federal government first declared a doctor shortage in Kern County. We cannot wait another half-century for the UC to decide we are worthy of their investment. If they won’t build it, we will.”…