As a result of a government initiative to increase medical school admissions, thousands of medical interns and residents are protesting or refusing to go to work, creating a medical crisis for South Korea. There are approximately 13,000 medical interns and residents within South Korea, the vast majority of them working at 100 hospitals. This group of medical employees makes up about 35% of the total doctors at major hospitals. Therefore, when around 9,000 interns and residents have either resigned or are protesting, the operation of hospitals has been affected, resulting in the cancellation of treatments and surgeries.
These actions follow a new plan to increase medical school admission in South Korea by 65%. More specifically, the universities aim to admit 2,000 more medical students starting in 2025 with the goal of adding up to 10,000 doctors in South Korea by 2035. The protests and resignations are said to be a result of doctors worrying about increased competition that would result in the overtreatment of patients and ultimately burden public medical expenses. Others claim that the new medical initiative is yet another hit to a system that is already not fair due to difficult working conditions and an over-reliance on the trainees.
The Vice Health Minister Park Min-soo stated that those striking would not receive any disciplinary action if they went to work by the end of February. Conversely, he claimed that those who do not return to the hospitals by the deadline will face a minimum punishment of a three-month long suspension of their medical licenses as well as possible additional repercussions including indictments and fines. Furthermore, Park remained consistent in that emergency and critical care services were still maintained through the extending of working hours and by opening up military hospitals for civilian use. However, the health care disaster alert level was just raised from “caution” to “severe” over the concerns about civilians not receiving healthcare as a result of the doctor and trainee shortages. This is the first time that the health care alert has been raised to severe due to a “health care crisis.” During the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the alert was also raised to a severe, however, this was due to the severity of the infectious disease and not a service provision issue.
Although doctors and interns are upset and protesting about the “relaxing” of previously strict requirements for entry into medical school, there is a reason for this change. South Korea has an “aging population,” meaning the country has low birth rates and an increasing percentage of the population over the age of 65. As those within this age group generally need more medical care, the country is in need of more doctors, prompting the rise in medical school admissions. Additionally, while medical interns and residents are upset at the change, current polls suggest that up 75% of the South Korean public actually support the increase. This is especially true for citizens who live in more remote areas as they are currently struggling to access quality care.
In regards to the current protesting and health minister’s response, many question the threats of license suspension or indictments. Under South Korean law, the government can issue back-to-work orders for all medical employees when it becomes a “grave risk to public health.” According to these laws, refusing to follow these orders is not only supposed to result in the suspension of medical license, but also up to three years in prison or a fine of 30 million won, which is about $22,480. A prison sentence would result in the permanent removal of a medical license. That being said, many question whether or not the government will be following through with these laws. After all, the reason for the protesting stems from changes made due to a shortage of doctors and the punishment of all protesting would exacerbate the situation.
The biggest implication of the strike is the people of South Korea being unable to receive proper health care. Many surgeries for cancer treatments and C-sections have already been canceled or postponed. Last Friday it was reported that a person above the age of eighty went into cardiac arrest and passed away after being turned away from seven hospitals due to a lack of medical staff. In a different report, a middle-aged man with laryngeal cancer who has been regularly receiving treatment for four years was turning away last week without his standard injection. These are just two of the many examples of how the protests and resignations have affected the people of South Korea.
One possible solution would be some sort of compromise. This could be something along the lines of lowering the amount of additional admissions in exchange for the full return of all medical personnel. While this resolution would not be ideal in the eyes of the South Korean government, the power lies in the hands of the other party even with the threat of repercussions. Thus, the compromise will most likely need to come from the government.
Ultimately, the current striking of doctors has created a medical crisis within South Korea. Concern for the well-being of the public will continue to rise as they endure further difficulties in obtaining healthcare and await the promise of action by the government. With thousands still protesting, NGF will continue to follow the situation with the hopes that the protests come to a peaceful end.
Author: Ella Powers
