Too many female medical school students?

EDINBURGH, Scotland, April 7 (UPI) -- The increase of female medical school students may add to doctor shortages, because women tend to work more part-time hours, a Scottish researcher says.

Brian McKinstry, senior research fellow at the University of Edinburgh, says currently women outnumber men in most British medical schools by 3:2 and most British general practitioners age 45 and older are men who work full-time, but general practitioners younger than 45 years are mostly women working part-time.

As the older, male doctors retire -- unless employment behavior changes -- there will be a shortfall in primary care doctors if the women don't pick up full-time hours as their children grow up, McKinstry says.

Jane Dacre of University College London argues that rather than worrying about having too many women in medicine,health officials should be focusing on ensuring equality of opportunity.

Medicine needs and wants to attract the best and brightest people whatever their sex and greater availability of child care as well as part-time training options would help address the issue, Dacre says.

The two experts debate the issue in the British Medical Journal.