Georgia low on family physicians

In the spring, 385 students graduated from Georgia's medical schools, but only two of them chose to remain in the state to pursue a family medicine residency. Overall, 20 students, or 5%, chose to go into family medicine—half the number that it was five years ago. More than one-third of Georgia's counties, many of them rural, are officially designated as primary-care health professional shortage areas. This designation means that, on average, there is less than 1 doctor for 3,500 people. About 1.5 million people in the state are affected by the shortage of doctors.