Med school great for S.D.

Daily Leader, Madison, S.D.: The University of South Dakota Medical School will start growing next year, and we’re enthusiastic about the impact it will have on the state of South Dakota.

USD has the only medical school in the state and has been operating for more than a century. Generally, its emphasis is to educate family care physicians who will practice in South Dakota. More than 600 of its graduates currently practice in the state.

The med school currently admits 56 students per year and, beginning in 2015, will start admitting 11 more per year. The Lee Medical Building itself doubled in size during the last decade and is well positioned to take on more students.

And it appears as though South Dakota will need doctors: The South Dakota Department of Health estimates that there will be a need to expand the primary health care workforce by 13 to 17 percent, according to Dr. Mary Nettleman, the medical school’s dean.

The growth in demand appears to be from the aging of the baby boomers and the expansion of health services through the Affordable Care Act.

We’ve seen many Madison students attend and graduate from the USD Medical School, and we’ve seen graduates of the school practice in Madison for many years. We’re excited about the expansion of the classes there.