A loan shall not exceed ten thousand dollars per annum, for not exceeding four years, to defray tuition, living expenses, and other school related expenses. The loan must be based upon the condition that the applicant apply for a license to practice medicine, dentistry, or child psychiatry in South Carolina at the earliest practicable opportunity and that, within six months after the applicant is so licensed to practice, he will engage in the practice of medicine, dentistry, or child psychiatry in a service area within this State which has a ratio of not more than one doctor for each two thousand people or a ratio of not more than one dentist for each six thousand people. However, the practice of child psychiatry is limited only to the Child and Adolescent Unit of the South Carolina State Hospital. The Department shall approve a deferment of the required entry into practice during the time that the applicant is engaged in a residency training program in the field of family practice, general internal medicine, general pediatrics, child psychiatry, or obstetrics-gynecology. The Department shall annually prepare a list of medical service areas and dental service areas in this State and the ratios of doctors and dentists to the population in each service area, using the population figures of the latest official United States Census and the latest directories of the State Board of Medical Examiners and the State Board of Dentistry.

All areas of the State must be included in the service areas established by the Department. However, the practice of child psychiatry is not subject to the service area requirement and is limited only to the Child and Adolescent Unit at the South Carolina State Hospital. Medical service areas shall have a minimum population of two thousand and dental service areas shall have a minimum population of six thousand and each area shall have at least one town or municipality, whether or not incorporated, which has a population of at least five hundred. The applicant may choose the service area in which he desires to practice if the service area qualifies at the time the recipient initiates his practice. The recipient is required to practice in an eligible service area for one year for each year in which a loan was received. If the applicant receives a loan for four years he is only required to practice in the service area for three years, at the end of which time the loan is considered paid in full. A recipient may practice for the designated period of time in such other locations or assignments which the Board determines meet a critical state need.

HISTORY: 1962 Code Section 22-373; 1974 (58) 1983; 1975 (59) 189; 1978 Act No. 478, Section 1; 1985 Act No. 186, Section 1.