California dealing with massive shortage of Latino doctors, study shows

Hospitals and clinics across the state and the nation are having their own emergency -- a massive shortage of Latino doctors.

Now, a group of local physicians is sounding the alarm after they say it’s been an ongoing issue for years.

“It is a challenge,” said Reymundo Espinoza, CEO of Gardner Health Services.

His Latino physician roster mirrors that of the state and the county.

In California, only 6% of physicians are Latino, according to the latest research out of UCLA.

In Santa Clara County, where a quarter of the population is Latino, only 4% of all doctors are Latino. Yet Latinos make up 51% of the county’s hospital janitorial staff.

“The Latino providers, the Latino physicians, they’re the most difficult because everybody needs them. Everybody wants them. Everybody needs them because they’re bilingual. They can relate,” said Espinoza.

Patient Maria Elena Ramirez said that when her children were small, she had to use hand signals with doctors because neither spoke the other’s language. 

So, on Sept. 27,  doctors in Santa Clara County and across the country are celebrating National Latino Physicians Day, in an effort to knock down the barriers and convince more Latino students to enter the medical field.

They realize the road to a meaningful solution is a long one.

“They said we would need 54,000 more physicians to reach parity,” said Espinoza. 

The doctor said it’ll be a daily struggle trying to recruit Latino doctors from a small pool that everyone is trying to get into.   

But considering what's at stake, everyone understands the importance of overcoming that struggle.