Racism found in selection of young doctors
Discrimination in society: Medical schools told to reform as tribunal clears minister in university case
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Your support makes all the difference.MEDICAL SCHOOLS will be ordered to reform the way they choose the doctors of the future, after an inquiry found evidence that two-thirds were guilty of racial discrimination.
A study into 12,000 applications to medical schools in 1997 found students from ethnic minorities had significantly less chance of gaining a place than their white counterparts.
More than half of white applicants gain a place at medical school compared with one in six black students. The success rate for Asian students varied from just under one in two at some schools to about one in four elsewhere. Researchers said that 18 of the 27 medical schools were found to have "disadvantaged" applicants from ethnic minority backgrounds.
The report said: "Some of these findings are very worrying. In particular one possible, but not proven, explanation for disadvantage in the ethnic minorities is racial discrimination. There must be no hint of discrimination in the selection of medical students." Action will be launched next week, to head off the possibility of a government inquiry. A plan, designed to "ensure fairness, equality and transparency", will require medical schools to review their entry requirements and publish a detailed annual breakdown of their selection process.
Medical schools denied they were racist. They argued problems might stem from the training of selectors and candidates' performance at interview.
Ethnic minority students make up 24 per cent of all trainee doctors, more than four times their proportion in the population, reflecting the popularity of medicine as a career among young Asians, who make up 26 per cent of applicants to medical school.
The research, by Professor Chris McManus, of University College London, found high A-level grades were the most important factor in gaining a place. In 1997, the average A-level score for successful applicants was better than AAB.
But the study found there was discrimination against male mature students and applicants from working-class backgrounds in some schools.
Women students now outnumber men in medical schools. Admissions tutors believe they mature earlier than men and perform better at A-level and interview.
It costs pounds 250,000 to train a medical student, and most are selected on the basis of a 15-minute interview.
Professor Stephen Tomlinson, head of the Council of Heads of Medical Schools, which commissioned the study, said: "All applicants to medical school must be treated equally and fairly, and we are very concerned about any indications that this is not happening."
The Government wants to create 1,000 new places in medical schools by 2005, and is keen to see reform of the selection process.
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