Capt. Lee Si-hoon shares a joyful moment with his family during the commissioning ceremony for the 55th class of medical officers at the Army Cadet Military School in Goesan, North Chungcheong, on April 24.
Lee Cook-jong, director of the Armed Forces Daejeon Hospital, reportedly apologized to the Ministry of National Defense after making remarks critical of Korea’s medical system during a recent speech.
Monday marks the deadline set by the government for medical students to return to school, with most medical schools closing their registration and reenrollment processes.
Almost all medical students at major universities have said they will return to classes, signaling a possible end to their yearlong protest against the government’s decision to increase medical school enrollment quotas.
At least six in 10 medical students at Seoul National University (SNU) said they will resume their studies, more than a year after leaving campus in protest of the government’s plan to increase the medical school enrollment quota.
The U.S. Embassy in Seoul issued a public alert warning that access to health care in Korea may be significantly disrupted due to an ongoing shortage of physicians.
Medical schools, including Yonsei University, which closed their registration process last week, began expelling students who failed to re-enroll on Monday.
A Seoul court on Friday dismissed a lawsuit filed by medical professors seeking to overturn the government’s decision to increase the enrollment quota for freshmen at medical schools.
The government said Friday it will conditionally scrap a contested plan to increase medical school admissions next year to resolve the ongoing health care crisis.
While doctors in essential medicine in the United States earn eye-watering salaries commensurate with their live-saving work, their counterparts in Korea fall far behind the likes of doctors who open plastic surgery clinics.
Korea JoongAng Daily Sitemap
