ATLANTA Dr. Alluri Raju, a native of India, vividly remembers how his ethnicity prompted concern and discrimination in the southwest Georgia town of Richland. Doctors there hesitated to grant the family practitioner and general surgeon privileges to the local hospital when he arrived in 1981.
I guess they wanted to cut me off so that I wouldnt be a competitor, he recalled.
Yet, in the 37 years Raju has been practicing in Richland, more than 20 doctors have come and gone and hes the only physician left not just in Richland, but in all of Stewart County and neighboring Webster County, an area roughly half the size of Rhode Island with a population of more than 8,000.
Today, Im it, he said. And his patients, he said, treat him with respect and not as a foreigner.
Stories like Rajus are the common thread for many immigrant doctors in the United States.
The American Medical Association said that, as of last year, 18 percent of practicing physicians and medical residents in the U.S. in patient care were born in other countries. Georgias percentage of foreign-born doctors is similar, at 17 percent.
Yet President Donald Trumps focus on securing U.S. borders and restricting immigration and the bitter arguments between the national political parties on the issue during midterm campaigns have sown concerns about opportunities for foreign-born doctors.
Many of these doctors, like Raju, work in rural areas that are desperate to attract medical professionals. Yet those areas are often reliable supporters of Trump and his strict immigration policies. A recent national poll found that immigration is the top concern for Republican voters.
Some health care experts say Trumps tough stance could make it harder for rural areas such as Richland to relieve critical physician shortages.
Georgias Republican lawmakers have considered legislation in recent years that opponents say would have restricted the rights of some immigrants. And Republican candidates for governor here campaigned in the primary this year on cracking down on illegal immigrants, though advocates for that position say bias is not the motivation, but rather the need for border security.
Rajus patients say they dont see any problem in seeking care from an immigrant. Raju has been treating Willie Hawkins, a retired road worker, for 30 years, as well as his mother and his sister.
Sometimes, Hawkins said with a smile, he has to ask the nurse what the doctor just said.
You know, he talks a little funny, said Hawkins, 66. But who cares?
Maybe when Raju first came here to practice, people were a bit skeptical, Hawkins recalled. Many had never met someone from India before, he said. But today it just doesnt matter, he said.
Foreign-born doctors are vital to the national health system. The U.S. is grappling with a doctor shortage thats expected to grow to as many as 120,000 physicians by 2030, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.
