Surgeon General: More Minority Doctors Needed

The new U.S. Surgeon General has called for stepped-up efforts in increasing the number of minority physicians, according to an Associated Press report.

Dr. Regina Benjamin (pictured) noted that the proportion of U.S. physicians who are minorities is only 6 percent – the same proportion as a century ago.

“There’s something wrong with that,” said Benjamin, 53, speaking at a conference on health disparities on Dec. 3, 2009, at a hotel in downtown Atlanta.

The numbers come from a 2004 estimate of the percentage of U.S. physicians that are black or Hispanic. Blacks and Hispanics account for roughly 28 percent of the U.S. population, according to 2008 figures from the U.S. Census Bureau.

In her speech, Benjamin told health leaders in the audience to encourage young minorities to pursue careers in medicine or other ambitions.