Chao News client reporter Jia Xiaowen.
This is a medical worker photographed at a hospital in Seoul, South Korea, on February 19. **Xinhua Reuters.
Recently, South Korea is in the midst of a crisis in the healthcare system.
South Korea** announced earlier this month that it would increase the number of students enrolled in medical schools in colleges and universities to 5,058 in the 2025 academic year from 3,058 in order to address the shortage of doctors. By 2035, South Korea will have about 10,000 new doctors.
In order to implement the policy of expanding the enrollment of medical schools, from 6 a.m. on February 20, nearly 10,000 inpatients and interns in South Korea submitted resignation applications and left their medical positions. In the face of the request of the doctors' group to withdraw the expansion plan, South Korea** rejected it on February 25. According to Xinhua News Agency, the "wave of resignations" initiated by South Korean interns and resident doctors to oppose the expansion of medical students has been going on for a week, and the scope is showing signs of expanding.
Semi-compulsory discharge", "the queue of discharged patients is lined up outside the door", "** training cannot be carried out", ......Caught in the "wave of resignations" of doctors, has South Korea's medical system shut down? On February 26, Chao News reporters interviewed Li Dongxin, professor of the School of Northeast Asia of Shandong University, director of the China-Japan-Korea Think Tank Network Research Base (Weihai), and deputy director of the Northeast Asia Research Center.
Caught in the "resignation wave" of doctors
Is South Korea's healthcare system shut down?
As of Feb. 26, 10,034 interns and residents in South Korea had submitted their resignations, accounting for about 77 percent of the country's total number of interns and residents, of whom 9,006 had left their jobs, Xinhua news agency reported.
In view of the fact that interns and residents are the main force of emergency departments and critically ill patients, according to a previous report by the Global Times, the five major hospitals in the capital area of South Korea have canceled 30% to 50% of the surgical schedules, and the hospitals will prioritize the operation of emergency and critically ill patients, and postpone non-emergency diagnosis and treatment and surgery as much as possible. It is expected that the hospital will further expand the scale of canceling surgeries.
In order to fully mobilize medical resources, avoid the loss of life and health of patients, and minimize the medical gap, South Korea raised the medical crisis alert level to the highest level on the 23rd. Li Dongxin said that this means that the large-scale strike of doctors has a more serious impact, and it also reflects the determination of South Korea to actively respond to the collective action of the medical community.
In fact, it is not the first time that South Korea has proposed a plan to expand the enrollment of medical schools, and it has also attracted a strong response from the medical community more than once.
During the pandemic in 2020, South Korea's healthcare system collapsed due to a lack of staff. Moon Jae-in** proposed a plan to expand the enrollment of medical schools, which was strongly criticized by South Korean residents and interns**, and then launched an indefinite strike. After the game between the two sides, due to the severity of the epidemic, Moon Jae-in **compromised. In 2021, Yoon Suk-yeol** once again released the news that the medical school was about to expand, which caused a strong ** from the Korean medical community and had to postpone the expansion plan.
It can be seen that South Korean doctors are more likely to use the strike as a means to threaten South Korea's first compromise, so as to achieve the goal of forcing South Korea to cancel the plan to expand the enrollment of medical students. Li Dongxin said that at present, in order to deal with the collective action of the medical industry, South Korea has begun to implement countermeasures, as for how long the strike will last, it depends on the negotiations and games between the two sides.
Now it seems that this time Yoon Suk-yeol ** will not give in easily. On the morning of February 23, South Korean Prime Minister Han Deok-so said that in order to cope with the current medical gap, online non-face-to-face diagnosis and treatment will be fully launched from the 23rd, and at the same time, the restrictions on additional employment of medical manpower will be relaxed, and public health doctors and military doctors will join the support team. Public medical institutions have extended the hours of consultation on weekdays to the maximum and extended the hours of consultation on holidays. **Wide-area emergency rooms will be opened in four regions early next month to be responsible for the transportation and transfer of severe and critically ill patients.
On the 25th, South Korea's ** Yoon Suk-yeol's office criticized the collective resignation of doctors, saying that "no doctor in other countries in the world will take patients hostage to extreme behavior." "South Korea** is actively responding to the strike crisis, and the healthcare system is still functioning. Li Dongxin said.
South Korea has implemented a policy of expanding the enrollment of medical schools
Why did it cause the resignation of young doctors en masse?
Some Korean media bluntly said that "the behavior of doctors leaving the emergency room is unimaginable in other countries", and Korean medical care is facing a "deformed reality". Behind this, what problems does South Korea face, and why does the expansion of medical school enrollment cause young doctors to be so **?
South Korea has a serious aging population and a shortage of medical and health resources. Li Dongxin said that according to South Korea, by 2025, the shortage of doctors in South Korea will be as high as 150,000 people. "At the same time, the proportion of the elderly population in South Korea will reach 20% by 2025 and 30% by 2035, and the demand for medical care will continue to rise. ”
According to the United Nations, when the proportion of the elderly population over 65 years old exceeds 14% of a country or region, it enters an "aging society". By the end of 2019, the proportion in South Korea had reached 149%, which has become one of the countries with the most serious aging problem in Asia.
In this case, young doctors demonstrated to ** through collective resignation, which shows the high status of doctors in Korean society, and also reflects the scarcity of medical resources from the side. Li Dongxin said.
It is understood that for a Korean to become a doctor, he needs to go through 2 years of general education in college, 4 years of medical education, and then take the medical license exam, and it takes at least 6 years from graduation to becoming a general doctor. After that, there is a 1-year internship in the hospital, 4 years of residency, and 2 years of specialist training before becoming a specialist.
In South Korea, doctors earn 6 percent of other ordinary laborers8 times, Korean doctors have a high entry threshold and a long training time. Wang Chong, a senior researcher at the Chahar Institute and an expert on international issues, said that the more doctors are in short supply, the higher the per capita income. "The implementation of the enrollment expansion policy has made the interests of the industry and the country face conflicts, which is the reason for the medical and political game in South Korea. ”
"Not only that, but there are structural problems in the allocation of medical resources in South Korea. "In recent years, it has been reported that many patients in South Korea have been taken to hospitals by ambulance and have not been treated because there is no corresponding doctor, and eventually died.
In 2023, South Korea has a large number of junior doctors applying to specialize in mental health, ophthalmology, and plastic surgery, but there is an extreme shortage of specialists in certain key areas such as cardiothoracic surgery, Korean pediatrics, and cardiology. However, the Korean medical community believes that simply increasing the number of doctors cannot solve the problem of uneven distribution of medical resources.
Public and private medical institutions coexist in South Korea, with public hospitals generally providing cheaper medical care and private hospitals providing higher quality medical care. Li Dongxin said. According to the Global Times, citing the "Han Nation**", South Korea's medical system has a deep-rooted problem, that is, private medical institutions account for more than 95% of the total number of medical institutions.
In response to the doctor's strike
Yoon Suk-yeol's approval rating has "reversed".
The mass strike of South Korean doctors has triggered a crisis in the medical system, and the approval rating of Yoon Suk-yeol in South Korea has increased slightly due to the strong response to the doctors' strike.
According to the Global Times, a poll released by polling agency Gallup South Korea on the 23rd of this month showed that Yoon Suk-yeol's approval rating for his administration was 34%, an increase of one percentage point from the last survey. According to the analysis, compared with a few weeks ago, Yoon Suk-yeol's approval rating has "reversed".
South Korea's ** implementation of the medical school expansion policy is in line with public opinion. According to a survey conducted by the Korea Health and Medical Union in December 2023, 89Three percent of South Koreans approve of the expansion of medical school enrollment. According to CCTV News, South Korea's "** believes that this time without public support, it is difficult for doctors to win "this battle".
According to Xinhua News Agency, South Korea called on doctors who participated in the collective resignation action to return to work as soon as possible on the 26th, promising to exempt those who return to work before February 29. According to the South Korean health department, if you do not return to work by March 1, you will face penalties such as revocation of your medical license for at least three months.
Lee Kyu-tae, a professor at Kwandong University in South Korea, said in an interview that Yoon Suk-yeol has a tougher governing style than his predecessors, and he believes that this concession is less likely.
On April 10 this year, Yoon Suk-yeol** is about to usher in the "midterm examination" - the 22nd South Korean parliamentarian election, and on the eve of the big exam, a powerful "people's want" new policy will be launched, which is undoubtedly conducive to boosting votes. According to the Global Times, citing Bloomberg, this will provide impetus for Yoon Suk-yeol's National Power Party to win the parliamentary election in April this year.
South Korea released a new poll on February 7 showing that about two months before the parliamentary election, the ruling People's Power Party and the largest opposition party, the Democratic Party of Korea, have equal support, indicating that the competition between the two parties will be quite fierce.
If the strike incident is not resolved in a timely manner, the dissatisfaction of patients and the public with the ruling party will intensify, which may lead to social unrest and activities, and weaken the foundation of the ruling party. Li Dongxin said that if the policy of expanding medical student enrollment is halted or delayed due to the collective activity of doctors' strikes, the reputation of the ruling party may also be affected.
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