playtoearncryptogamesaxieinfinity| Two months after doctors strike, South Korean government gave in for the first time

Source: Beijing Business Daily

After two months of fierce confrontation,PlaytoearncryptogamesaxieinfinityYin Xiyue's government made concessions to striking doctors. April nineteenthPlaytoearncryptogamesaxieinfinityThe South Korean government announced plans to expand medical school enrollment, allowing medical schools to adjust their own enrollment expansion next year, which can cut the original target by as much as half. The original plan to expand enrollment was postponed to 2026. However, the medical sector responded coolly to this and refused to accept it, demanding that the Government withdraw the expansion plan in its entirety. One side has been loosened, the other is still tight, and it seems unclear how the crisis will end.

On the 19th, South Korean Prime Minister Han Tak-soo said at a press conference that the government accepted the proposal put forward by the presidents of six national universities to allow 32 medical schools that had received the increase in enrollment to adjust the enrollment expansion in the 2025 academic year independently within the range of 50% to 100% of the original additional places. This means that the 32 medical schools will be able to halve the government's planned expansion of 2000 students to a maximum of 1000 next year.

Han Dezhu said that universities need to adjust their enrollment plans by the end of April and determine the number of enrollment expansion within the prescribed limits. At the same time, the plan to expand enrollment will still be implemented, only delayed for a year.

Han Dezhu asked medical schools to formulate and publish enrollment plans for the 2026 academic year by the end of April, according to the standard of expanding enrollment by 2000 students.

In February, the South Korean government announced plans to expand the enrollment of medical schools by 2000 medical students a year for more than five years from the 2025 academic year, so as to add 10, 000 doctors by 2035 to make up for the doctor gap caused by an ageing population.

As soon as the plan was unveiled, it dropped a shock bomb on South Korea's medical community. South Korean doctors are furious and strongly oppose the expansion of enrollment.

The medical profession does not agree with the "doctor shortage theory" and thinks that expanding enrollment cannot solve the problem of uneven distribution of medical resources.

However, South Korean public opinion pointed out that doctors oppose the expansion because private medical institutions account for more than 95% of the total number of medical institutions, which means more competitors and less profits.

Since February 19, about 10,000 interns and residents have resigned and gone on strike, a large number of medical students have gone on strike, and medical professors have resigned collectively to counter the government's decision to expand enrollment.

Over the past two months, the two sides have confronted each other tit-for-tat and refused to compromise. Yin Xiyue's government adopted a firm and tough attitude. At one point, it offered punitive measures such as license revocation, accountability, and compulsory enlistment to leaving doctors, and repeatedly stressed that the government's will would not change.

According to outside analysis, the South Korean government loosened its mouth on the issue of enrollment expansion for the first time, or under the pressure of being in power and reality, hoping to reverse the crisis and break the deadlock. However, the South Korean government has not taken a step back in exchange for a broad future.

On the 20th, the Emergency response Committee of the Korean Physicians Association held a meeting, saying that the independent enrollment expansion plan put forward by the government was "unacceptable", saying that it was not the fundamental solution, and still asked the government to withdraw the enrollment expansion plan in its entirety. He also said that the government only has one week to find a solution.

Relevant people from the Association of Professors of South Korea's National Medical University also said that the position of going back to the origin to discuss the expansion of medical school enrollment remains unchanged, and even if the government reduces the scale of enrollment expansion, the agreement will still submit an application for resignation and will not withdraw measures to shorten working hours.

In the face of the government's temporary deregulation and expansion of enrollment, doctors are not convinced. One resident intern said that the government seems to be seeking to resolve the current conflict, but this will not enable the intern to return to work. Another resident who resigned said the government did not apologize for the situation and come up with a fundamental strategy, which was only a stopgap measure.

In South Korea, the imbalance of medical resources between the capital circle and the non-capital circle has existed for a long time. In recent years, the South Korean government has repeatedly mentioned the crisis of the collapse of the local community health care system. Just in October last year, in order to solve the plight of primary health care, such as local pediatric medical runs and lack of access to emergency care, Yin Xiyue's government launched the "Innovation Strategy for Local basic Medical Services." relax the restrictions on the quota and labor costs of doctors in local national university hospitals and guide the flow of medical talents to basic medical clinical departments. However, the current situation of unipolarization of medical resources in Seoul has not been significantly changed.

In South Korea, private medical institutions account for more than 90%. According to the analysis of some experts, in this private system dominated by market competition, the profit of the hospital is placed in a more important position, which further leads to the mismatch of supply.

In terms of department balance, dermatology, ophthalmology and plastic surgery with a large number of out-of-pocket programs are the main profits of private hospitals, and the income of doctors in related departments is high, which has almost doubled the number of plastic surgeons in South Korea in the past decade. The number of dermatologists has also increased by about 40%. While obstetrics and gynaecology, pediatrics and so on are called "basic medical care" in South Korea, the proportion of medical insurance reimbursement is high, and doctors' salaries are relatively low, so these departments are often caught in a "doctor shortage."

According to South Korean government data, there are currently about 140000 doctors in South Korea, including 1.PlaytoearncryptogamesaxieinfinityMore than 30,000 interns and residents mainly work in about 100 teaching hospitals across South Korea. The number of interns and residents accounts for 30% to 40% of the total number of doctors in such hospitals and plays a role in assisting experienced doctors in the process of surgery and nursing inpatients.

At present, in addition to the ongoing medical turmoil, South Korea's inflation is also quite dissatisfied with the people, after Yoon Xiyue was denounced by the whole people for the "president green onion" incident. South Korean Ambassador to Australia Lee Jong-sup, who is involved in the military case, resigned just 25 days after taking office, which also caused a storm of public opinion. Domestic and foreign issues are intertwined, all of which are the test faced by the National Power Party, which has just lost in the parliamentary election.

Comprehensive report of Beijing Business Daily