BMA calls for renewed action on debt relief

The BMA has written to the chancellor of the exchequer welcoming his plan to reduce the debt of the poorest countries, but asking him to renew his efforts to persuade fellow world leaders at the G8 summit in Cologne in June to cancel debt outright.

The BMA is a member of the Jubilee 2000 coalition for the cancellation of debt and believes that the burden of debt is one of the major factors sustaining the poverty which condemns millions of people to ill health and early death. In his letter to Mr Gordon Brown, Dr Mac Armstrong, the BMA secretary, says that the association is particularly concerned about the effects of structural adjustment programmes, which often force governments to cut social spending and fail to take into account explicit human development targets. He says that the government's millennium challenge—to cut debt and increase aid—can be the first step in achieving the goal of poverty reduction.

Medical schools must not be overcrowded

The UK government has agreed that 1000 extra medical students should be trained each year, and this month was the deadline for educational bodies to submit bids …