Originally posted by Rosuav
There's a slight assumption here, namely that if the current person wasn't doing the job, nobody would. If foreign doctors weren't in those towns, there would probably be some local attention given - if for no other reason than because the "Gummint" would offer a subsidy or something to encourage it, thus making it worthwhile.
Nope. There would be nothing in these towns. The government tries to encourage people to go to dinky towns, but they are only marginally successful (see the movie Doc Hollywood for something inspired by the difficulty of getting doctors to practice in small towns or rural areas).

Often, when the foreign doctor leaves or dies, things just revert back to having no doctor.