In New York, they are asking retired physicians to come to work, medical school students to step up I just think its a matter of no one realizing there is a way to boost the work force immediately, said Dr. Alur, who came to the United States in 2007 for his residency training.

Raghuveer Kura, a nephrologist in Poplar Bluff, Mo., and a co-founder of the foreign doctors organization, said the group had compiled a list of doctors willing to go to New York and New Jersey to assist. But because of the rigidity of the government visa policies, nearly all of them are unable to do so.

We are physicians trained at top U.S. institutions, said Dr. Kura, who has been in the United States for 19 years. People like me are not able to go to help in hot spots even though we can manage ventilators and we can manage I.C.U. patients.

Varun Malayalah, an internal medicine hospitalist who practices in rural Delaware, said that he had been inundated with calls, texts and emails from recruiters representing hospitals that are grappling with the contagion.

I would be there tomorrow, if it were possible, said Dr. Malayalah.

He is 35, single and has a staggered schedule, one week on and the next off, the norm for hospitalists, or doctors who exclusively treat patients in hospitals.

In the last month, instead of sitting home when I was off, I could have gone and worked where they needed me, he said, were it not for the visa restrictions.

Representatives Tony Crdenas and Zoe Lofgren of California sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Chad F. Wolf, the acting homeland security secretary, urging their departments to allow foreign-born physicians and health care workers to practice freely during the crisis. The letter, sent April 6, was signed by 63 members of Congress.

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Foreign Doctors and Nurses are Ready to Help America. But Visas and Travel Blocks Stand in Way. - The New York Times