There is a problem in the state of California. Not that California has a shortage of those. Ironically enough, it would appear that in the land of beautiful people, breast augmentation and liposuction, there is a severe shortage of doctors. By “severe” I mean that there is one doctor for every 27,000 residents in Bell Gardens, California.

While not all parts of the state face this sort of glaring absence, numbers such as those are representative of much of the minority community in California. This sort of percentage is bleaker than Haiti’s.

Plainly put, most of the inner city neighborhoods in California fall below the medical standards of many third world nations. For a country as rich and full of services as the United States is, this is unacceptable.

The Los Angeles Times ran a piece regarding the lack of qualified medical personnel in inner cities and rural communities in Monday’s edition.

Explanations for the phenomenon ranged from a lack of willingness by doctors to work in such bleak neighborhoods to a disinterest in the sciences by minorities in school.

According to the Times, over the last four years, black and Latino enrollment in state medical schools in California has fallen by a third.

The sad logic behind such a statistic is that both cultural divides and general apathy can only be overcome by employing minority doctors in minority communities.

We are assuming only black doctors will work in black neighborhoods, with a few Latino doctors thrown in for good measure.

The lack of minority enrollment in medical institutions must be considered a valid argument regarding the plight of inner city medical care.

However, the question of concern cannot be where the issue of quality care is allowed to die. Access is a not only a right of the citizenry, it is the responsibility of the qualified to provide.

The burden of quality care can not be the exclusive responsibility of minority physicians. Simple numbers do not permit such passing of the buck. White doctors must be compelled to provide health care within inner city and minority neighborhoods.

A call to action can only be fueled by a sense of justice and obligation, as there is no other tangible reason that a doctor would feel compelled to offer such service.

The financial compensation will not force anyone to dodge gunfire and gang wars.

Just for a moment, imagine a true lack of access to medical care. Not the kind of problem some claim to have waiting around at Student Health for a while when they forget to make an appointment — a real lack of medical care.

I realize the plight of inner city California is perhaps the farthest thing from anyone’s mind with finals approaching and summer rushing upon us.

But understand that such a cruel failure to meet basic needs, regardless of what part of the country it occurs in, should be a concern to us all.

What would such an absence really be like? You’re sick, really sick. Pain, fever, nightsweats, chills. And you keep getting worse.

But don’t even bother calling a doctor or going to the hospital because it just won’t do any good. I find that entire possibility terrifying.

By bringing attention to the need for more qualified doctors in both inner city and rural communities, I do not wish to assign any blame, or even call for an overhaul of the system.

Such an issue can be addressed through both awareness and conscious decisions by all.

It is ill-advised to argue about methods that will cost human lives. I can only hope that such a lack of basic care will be tended to by the medical community.

These are lives we are dealing with, after all. Perhaps an incentive could be given to young, qualified doctors fresh from med school.

A skittish professional might be unwilling to risk his life in gangland territory disputes, but a lot of smart future doctors would jump at the chance to have their bills paid in advance.

Once contractually obligated to work in a community, there would be little choice but for the doctor to work off his debt where needed.

It is a simple enough plan, and no one ever lost betting on the willingness of college students to accept a student loan.

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Zuri Jerdon is a graduate student in English from Cincinnati.