SEOUL: To see doctors walk off the job is a jarring image. These professionals are, after all, charged with caring for others in society, including treating the sick and wounded. In South Korea, however, this surprising development is precisely what has happened.
Since February, more than 12,000 doctors at over 100 hospitals have walked away from their jobs in protest over a government policy to increase medical school admissions. Medical students, interns and resident doctors were the first to go on strike, with senior doctors and medical professors later joining in solidarity.
This is a fraction of the estimated 140,000 doctors in South Korea, but the strike has resulted in the cancellation of hundreds of surgeries and other treatments.
This situation emerged because South Korea’s healthcare sector – plagued by salary and working condition issues – needs to be reformed but an earlier attempt at compromise and incremental change fell apart.
Since 2016, admissions into South Korea’s medical schools have been capped at 3,058 a year. In 2020, the Moon Jae-in government proposed raising this by a moderate 400 places a year to address a shortage of physicians. Doctors vehemently opposed the proposal and went on strike, fearing they would have to share more of the medical sector revenue.
Their actions unfolded against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of the urgent need for medical care, the government surrendered. Doctors returned to work having “won” after a month-long strike and prevented an increase in the supply of physicians.
This time around, President Yoon Suk Yeol’s administration initially proposed raising the annual medical school enrolment quota by 2,000. Once again, doctors have responded with anger and indignation. This reaction is not surprising. If they had rejected an increase of 400 in 2020, they would surely reject 2,000.
