The need for more doctors is so critical that Medical College of Georgia must expand immediately to produce physicians that will remain in GA — assuring both public health and economic opportunity for all citizens.

A report calling for a 60% increase in enrollment at the Medical College of Georgia School of Medicine was accepted by the University System of Georgia Board of Regents in a special meeting, according to a news release. The report, requested by the Board of Regents, will be used as a general framework for a possible 12-year $210 million expansion plan.

If approved, the timeline calls for increasing enrollment to 1,200 by 2020 from 745 now. It would expand the school's campus in Augusta and its two clinical campuses: 439-bed Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in Albany and a new facility being developed in Savannah. A new four-year campus in Athens would also be developed as part of a partnership with the University of Georgia, the release said. By 2020, the plan calls for 900 students at the Augusta campus and 240 at the Athens facility.

The report stated that Georgia now ranks 40th among the 50 states in the number of physicians per residents. According to statistics released by the American Medical Association, Georgia has a population of 9.36 million with 22,805 doctors, which means a ratio of 411 residents for every physician.