CMA President Hugh Scully's August 1999 call for more medical students has received official endorsement from the Canadian Medical Forum, which represents the country's main medical bodies. The forum says first-year enrolment should increase by more than 400 students a year - to 2000 students - beginning this year; it currently stands at 1577 students. "If we delay this decision," the forum warned in a 24-page report released Nov. 22, "Canada will sacrifice the principle of self-sufficiency in physician workforce supply and will [continue] to deny outstanding Canadian students positions in medical schools." The report said Canada needs another 540 to 600 physicians a year just to cope with a rising population. The report was presented to Canada's health ministers, who responded that the production of more doctors is only one step to be considered.