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A Doctor an Hour? But before anybody can boost research to rocket speeds, the committee pointed out, the U.S. must more than double the number of people engaged in it—from 20,000 to 45,000. And this means not only more technicians but more physicians, whose training is long, costly and difficult. The U.S. must train 8,900 new M.D.s every year by 1970, as against 6,800 a year now—which will mean setting up 14 to 20 new medical schools. Personnel is already in hen's-teeth supply, causing barefaced piracy. Merck's Connor quoted one drug company's research director: "I have the greatest spy service in the Western Hemisphere. We scout people all the time. It's a dangerous game, but the stakes are high."
Last week the nation's outlay for medical research was sure of a gentle uplift from Congress, possibly much more. As against a total of $211 million for NIH ($153 million of it for research) in the fiscal year ended June 30, the House voted $219 million for NIH, while the Senate's bill called for an Everest ascent to $321 million. At week's end House-Senate conferees were deadlocked, decided to take a two-week breather. But if the Senate prevailed over the House—even so far as to win a split-the-difference agreement —the nation's medical research outlays would be starting up the Himalayan curve recommended by Stanhope Bayne-Jones and his colleagues.