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SALT LAKE CITY -- Utah's top health official is standing by his criticism of class size cuts at the University of Utah's Medical School.
Dr. David Sundwall, Executive Director of the Utah Department of Health, believes the school could have found other ways to trim the number of students from 102, to 82 this year.
"I don't quite get the connection between their funding shortfall and not being able to train 20 more medical students," he said, adding, "I don't, for a minute, presume to know how to balance their books or how to finance their enterprise up there."
But he says as a state health official, having fewer doctors instead of more in the state gives him great concern.
"I guess I'm more expressing my disappointment," Sundwall said, "and challenging them to see if there's some way to meet their budget without cutting class size."
But the medical school says it had little choice. Spokesman Chris Nelson says because of a more than 35 percent cut in funding, they simply had to choose between quality and quantity. They chose to maintain quality.
In an editorial letter sent to the Salt Lake Tribune, CEO, Dr. Lorris Betz and Dean, Dr. David Bjorkman, say Dr. Sundwall should well know the funding challenges facing the school right now. "After many long discussions during which we explored a myriad of options, we were forced to make the painful decision to admit only 82 students, instead of the 102 students admitted in the past. We're confident we made the right decision."
But Sundwall doesn't buy it. "You still have the same number of classrooms, the same number of students. As far as I know they're not firing any teachers, they have not announced that."
He says the output of at least 100 doctors a year is of critical importance to people looking for health care access in Utah.
School officials say they have made other cuts in overhead and that the reduction is temporary. In fact, they hope, eventually, to expand the number of students in the program.
E-mail: mgiauque@ksl.com
