Healthcare System Faces Collapse

There has been a tug-of-war between the government and medical associations in Korea.  It began as the government announced a plan to expand the medical school quota for 2025 by two thousand, claiming that existing medical schools can adequately accommodate such increases in enrollment. However, the associations strongly denounced the government’s plan, calling such proposals ridiculous. They have insisted that the nation's 32 medical schools lack sufficient facilities and resources to effectively educate so many additional students.

Nevertheless, the government has heavily pressured universities to conform this new order without any additional support measures, disregarding the doctors' concerns. The government also ignored the opposition, emphasizing the policy's importance to regional medical infrastructure and in facing challenges caused by overpopulation of the capital region as well as aging of the population nationwide.

Since the trainee doctors’ strike, many patients have been unable to receive proper medical services and left to suffer. University hospitals have suspended operations and outpatient medical services.  To many it appears as though medical groups are holding patients hostage as a strategy to thwart the government's planned policy change. Frankly, it is morally absurd that medical professionals arbitrarily refuse to take care of their patients in defense of their own interests. It is highly doubtful that the doctors' cartel will succeed in maintaining their current degree of exclusive privilege, despite their popular appears regarding supposedly inadequate facilities. Still, the conflict has not even approached resolution. There is a need for public consensus on the difficult choice between compromising with the doctors or staying the course.

By Yoon Suk-mu, Sophomore,

Dept. of Political Science and International Relations