New York, N.Y. - Dr. Savita Gopal, a 27-year-old resident physician at the Family Health Center of Harlem, sat in front of a computer last Thursday, peppering Jacob Doble, a 10-year-old from Harlem, with questions for 20 minutes.
As Dr. Gopal typed copious notes, Jacob, accompanied by his mother, Mekisha Hawkins, said he had been to the emergency room repeatedly in February for asthma, migraines and hallucinations.
Dr. Gopal, who also gave Jacob a physical examination, said she accepted a residency program at the center last year, after studying at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in Newark, because she wanted to work with patients who did not have access to adequate care. “I wanted to continue working in that environment, in an underserved community,” she said.
Dr. Gopal’s residency is supposed to last three years, but its future is uncertain. Her training is paid for by a provision of the Affordable Care Act called the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education program, which is up for renewal this year. The program has allocated $230 million nationwide over five years to try to tackle a worsening shortage of primary care physicians and draw eager young doctors to places where they are sorely needed.
Dr. Savita Gopal said she accepted a residency program at the center last year because she wanted to work with patients who did not have access to adequate care.CreditSam Hodgson for The New York Times
But if Congress does not reauthorize the program, it is unclear what will happen to Dr. Gopal, the 31 other residents at the Harlem center and the hundreds of other residents under the program working at similar centers across the nation. read more >>