MAVNI physicians willing but unable to serve covid-19 response

One of the continuing casualties of the increased barriers facing noncitizens in the military, is that immigrant physicians who enlisted through MAVNI are unable to put their medical skills into service, instead filing paperwork at a time when the military is desperate for doctors to fight the  coronavirus pandemic. The Washington Post reports that many of these immigrant physicians want to serve and are frustrated they cannot during a critical time.

The blockage occurs even though the  military recognizes its need for medical professionals. The Army is testing if medical soldiers who have left the service are interested in rejoining, and several active duty units have mobilized to help civilian hospitals with non-coronavirus patients.

It is also unclear whether the military has enough doctors to treat its own troops and families.  More than 300 service members have been infected, the agency said Thursday, including some who have recovered.

For more perspective on noncitizens in the military, see Margaret Stock’s Congressional testimony (October 2019) and these recent articles on military naturalization backlogs and the ending citizenship-for-service. 

MHC