While I think Dr M'Benga would have been great, just how many doctors should a crew of 430 get? In books I often see one doctor for each shift.
Yeah, i think he had everything to be a more recurring character! It would have been fun to see a little off McCoy staff more often... It would give a more realistic feeling to the ship to have some static people instead the ones that ware there once and never more.
I suppose the crew do get knocked around a bit and Kirk's always putting McCoy in danger by dragging him on landing parties. I just think most of the time two doctors would be sitting around getting bored.
Interesting question. Does anyone know how many doctors a current (or historical ) contemporary cruiser carries?