MUNSTER, Ind. — Some parts of Indiana may already be experiencing a shortage in doctors that is expected to hit the rest of the nation in coming years.

Rural and inner-city areas tend to attract fewer doctors and could be hardest hit, said Heidi Dunniway, president of the Indianapolis Medical Society. In some rural Indiana counties, there are no doctors specialized in delivering babies, she told The Times of Munster.

“Lacking anyone doing obstetrics, women are having to drive to a different county to deliver their babies,” she said.

Some analysts say the problem will get worse in future years. An Indiana University School of Medicine task force said in a 2006 report that Indiana could face a shortage of 1,975 doctors by 2015 unless more physicians are educated.

IU’s School of Medicine plans to increase enrollment by 30 percent, which would prepare another 360 new physicians by the time the class of 2016 graduates. The school hopes to funnel doctors into inner city and rural areas by creating residencies there.

The doctor shortage is due to several factors, including an expected increase in the U.S. population, the aging of that population and large numbers of baby boomer doctors reaching retirement age.

“What’s happening is that physicians are aging like the rest of the baby boomers,” Dunniway said. “It’s going to hit right at the time baby boomers need the most physicians.”