The widespread strike and resignation of doctors in South Korea has been going on for a week now.
The impact of such a large-scale strike and resignation of doctors is still quite large, and more than 10,000 interns and residents in 100 large general hospitals in South Korea have submitted their resignations, accounting for 80 percent of the total5%。
At present, it is the strike that causes the patient to be sick and unable to be treated, and the subsequent revocation of the license has become that the patient is sick and there is no one to treat him.
Both sides are unreliable!
1. Behind the chaos of South Korea's "medical reform", the high treatment of Korean doctors
1.More than 90% of South Korea's hospitals are private, and South Korea's medical schools only admit 3,000 students each year.
2.South Korea has only 2 per 1,000 people6 doctors, much lower than the U.S. 656, 64, OECD average 37, second to last in the OECD.
3.The average income of doctors in South Korea is close to $200,000, which is higher than that in Germany by 18$80,000, France 9$90,000. Many hospital doctors work eight hours a day, five days a week, and are only on duty "night and holiday" when necessary.
4.This is not the first time that South Korea's "medical reform" has been in turmoil, this is the fifth time. And the first four times, South Korea lost all of them. Most recently, when Moon Jae-in was in power, one of the most unhappy with health care reform was the inclusion of large tests such as MRIs in health insurance.
5.From 2018 to 2022, South Korean hospitals refused to admit 37,000 patients due to a shortage of doctors.
6.Korean doctors can work under the influence of alcohol.
Second, South Korea changed its measures and continued to exert pressure
On the 26th, the South Korean Military Affairs Agency announced that resident doctors who have not served in the military will enlist directly in the military as medical officers or public health doctors in March next year, the nearest enlistment day, after their resignations are accepted.
According to the Enforcement Order of the Military Service Act, these residents are required to enlist in the military for 38 months after the completion of their internship program as a condition for deferring their military service. During the internship period, resident doctors are not allowed to withdraw from the mechanism or change their specialization or internship unit at will, otherwise they will be forced to enlist in the army in advance.
In general, Korean doctors who have obtained a medical license after graduating from medical school have two ways to perform military service: one is to enlist in the military as a "public health doctor" without attending an internship course after obtaining a medical license.
The other is to apply for a "medical non-commissioned officer standby" at the same time as completing the internship course, and then serve as a military doctor or public health doctor after completing the course, which is a case of "deferred military service".
At present, these resident doctors who have submitted a letter of resignation and left their jobs and are not serving in the military are all in the second category of "medical non-commissioned officer candidates". If a resident resigns from his internship because he opposes the expansion of medical school enrollment, he or she must enlist in the military, regardless of whether they have completed their residency program.
3. The South Korean doctors' strike has exposed the need for public service practitioners to be responsible
This is a sign that these Korean doctors do not see the medical profession as a public utility, but as a business that is no different from any other company that conducts business activities, which leads them to never think about the interests of patients when they go on strike.
This is the same as many countries in Europe and the United States, transportation, education, industry practitioners, when you do not see the industry you are engaged in as a public utility, then you will inevitably lose your social obligations to the object of your service, you only need to consider the interests of yourself and the enterprise from a business point of view, the school that has lost its social obligation has become a factory that manufactures academic qualifications, and the news has become an entertainment industry only for attracting people's attention.
Of course, each country has its own unique national conditions, and it is not a simple system problem that can explain Korea's medical problems, but if all the doctors** in the Korean medical industry, even the students who plan to enter the hospital, think that their work does not need to be socially responsible, and they all believe that their economic interests are above the lives and health of patients, I think this is the best example of the alienation of capital to people.