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Stop quick fixes and find fundamental solutions

Published: 28 Jul. 2024, 20:00

It turned out that barely over 10 percent of the quota for general practitioners for next year have applied for the medical practical examination. Among medical school students, only five percent applied for the essential test. In this case, we will see about 300 general practitioners next year instead of the usual 3,000.

After more than 10,000 trainee doctors left their hospitals in protest against the government’s drastic decision to increase the medical school admissions quota by 2,000 annually over the next five years, the number of new medical doctors is also set to decrease. The Yoon Suk Yeol administration’s scheme to increase the number of medical students to address a lack of medical doctors only helped a number of doctors leave their hospital. Even emergency medical services face a crisis amid growing complaints about accumulated fatigue from having to fill the vacuum from the massive walkout by trainee doctors.

The government has presented various ways to rescue trainee doctors from administrative punishments since their walkout in February. But they didn’t return to their hospitals and medical students even refused to take the required practical test. The government must accept the medical vacuum for a considerable period of time as a fait accompli and prepare effective solutions to address the protracted crisis. There are alarming signs that essential services such as surgery and OB-GYN are to break down.

The government must prevent the collapse of emergency medical services and critical care. It must establish a new system to allow physician assistants to fill some of the void of specialty doctors and legislate the system. Despite the government’s promise to apply special exceptions to the walkouts by trainee doctors, they are not expected to return to their hospitals when new trainee doctors are recruited in September. Many trainees are preparing to serve in the military. Patient groups are enraged after some medical professors threatened to not accept trainee doctor applicants as their pupils.

The ongoing crisis owes much to the government. Appearing in the National Assembly, the health minister said he didn’t expect this medical crisis to last for more than four months. Quick fixes can’t solve the crisis. The medical community is also being divided even further. The government must take responsibility for resolving this crisis through dialogue with stakeholders.

The special medical reform committee must present realistic solutions when it announces a plan to restructure our medical system next month. The government must not forget that without close communication with medical doctors, any solution will be a pipe dream.