On Sunday, thousands of medical professionals in South Korea demonstrated against the government’s intentions to raise admissions to medical schools and against what they perceived as a wider lack of support for the nation’s healthcare system in the streets of Seoul.According to the physicians, the government must address more issues than just the overall number of new physicians training year in order to improve the healthcare system.
Their worries include the cost of necessary medical treatments, the shortage of workers in particular sectors, and the establishment of an appropriate infrastructure for training a large number of new medical students.
The government’s plan, announced in February, will increase the number of students admitted to medical schools by 2,000 starting in the 2025 academic year which would bring the total to 5,000 per year.
Trainee doctors are also angry over difficult working conditions that include low pay and long hours.Around 8,000 trainee doctors in South Korea began striking on February 21 by submitting their resignation. A further 1,000 have resigned since then.The move comes in a bid to meet the changing healthcare demands of one of the world’s fastest aging societies and to boost access in rural areas of the country, according to the government.
The number of child care facilities in the country has shrunk by almost a quarter in just a few years, CNN reported in July, reflecting authorities’ unsuccessful campaign to encourage couples to have more babies.Meanwhile, as the population rapidly ages, the number of elderly facilities has boomed from 76,000 in 2017 to 89,643 in 2022, according to the country’s health and welfare ministry.Compounding the challenge, South Korea has the world’s lowest birth rate, which has been falling continuously since 2015.
On Tuesday, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said his government would not back down on its plans.“Protecting people such as children, the elderly, and people with disabilities is directly linked to the government’s core policy on welfare for the vulnerable populations in healthcare. Therefore, this [medical reform] is not a matter for negotiations or compromise,” he said at a press conference.
According to a recent Gallup poll, 76% of respondents favoured expanding medical school admissions.On Thursday, the government issued a back-to-work order, warning striking doctors their medical licenses could be suspended if they did not comply.Despite the deadline, a representative for South Korea’s doctors said they supported the walkout and would continue to push for their demands to be met.In an effort to continue to provide healthcare during the strike, the government has drafted in military doctors and nurses have been given legal protection to perform some medical procedures normally conducted by doctors, according to the health ministry.
Source: Here