“Building a medical school at the University of Maine is not feasible, study says,” (Jan. 5).

This study deserves a giant “duh.” A conversation with a few physician educators and a historian or two would have come to the same conclusion. The principal purpose of the report seemed to be to congratulate UMaine for what it is already doing and to claim that the UMaine System is best positioned to develop something as complex as a medical school. The same could be said for an aerospace program, which isn’t about to happen here either.

A few facts:

1. The whole world needs more primary care doctors. There just aren’t the right incentives.*
2. Residencies are closing across the U.S. Starting them is a fool’s errand.
3. A plan was created for a medical school in Maine in the 1970s, when conditions were much more favorable for such a venture. It failed.*
4. Starting a public medical school takes a huge amount of federal capital. Given this country’s current priorities, what are the chances of that?
5. At one time, med students from Maine could attend other medical schools with substantial state support and reduction in tuition. Funding of that program has been inconsistent.
6. There is currently a partnership with Tufts Medical School to educate Maine medical students who profess an interest in a rural career.
7. A medical school already exists in the state, at UNE. While being private and osteopathic, it ticks many of the boxes detailed in the study.
8. The population density of the state doesn’t support the prerequisites for a medical school plus residencies without swallowing up Maine Medical Center and the newly relocated UNE Osteopathic School.*

*Each of these matters are so complex that they would require a study all to themselves.

Bruce Brown, MD
Brewer