Korea faces challenges despite resident doctors’ return

A significant number of medical residents who resigned in February last year in protest of the government’s plan to expand medical school enrollment by 2,000 have returned to work as of Sept. 1. Preliminary figures show that for the recruitment of 13,498 interns and residents in the second half of this year, training hospitals in the Seoul metropolitan area filled 70 to 80 percent of their quotas, while regional hospitals filled about 50 percent. Including residents already on duty, roughly 10,000 medical trainees have returned to training hospitals. After a year and seven months, tensions between the medical community and the government appear to be easing, raising expectations that disruptions to the healthcare system will gradually subside.

The government’s plan to increase medical school enrollment by 2,000 sparked fierce opposition. Even though public opinion largely supported the need, authorities failed to clearly explain the rationale for the figure. Almost all medical students and residents left their schools and hospitals in protest. Surgeries and patient care sharply declined, forcing patients to seek treatment elsewhere and further disrupting the already insufficient training of new doctors.

With the return of residents following medical students, the worst-case scenarios, such as tripled medical education demands or halted specialist training, were avoided. However, South Korea’s healthcare system, which has been weakened and damaged by the prolonged conflict between the medical community and the government, now urgently requires fundamental reforms.

The return of medical residents is welcome, but it is also exacerbating the imbalance of doctors between metropolitan and regional hospitals. Many residents who had been working in regional hospitals are relocating to Seoul and other major cities in a “domino effect.” A pilot program designed to retain doctors in regional areas through allowances and housing support filled only about 60 percent of the 96 available positions. The return rate of residents who had left for private practice is also low. In particular, some regional hospitals are unable to staff essential departments such as obstetrics and emergency medicine, forcing them to close delivery rooms and emergency units.

The expansion of medical school enrollment was initially aimed at addressing gaps in regional and essential healthcare, symbolized by so-called “birth refugees” and overworked emergency rooms. Even if the former Yoon Suk Yeol administration’s plan to increase medical school seats had been scrapped, it should not have extinguished momentum for healthcare reform aimed at strengthening regional and essential medical services.

Authorities must secure adequate medical personnel and correct distorted compensation systems to resolve the tendency of doctors to avoid regional and essential healthcare. At the same time, measures are needed to improve residents’ training environments and prevent future medical crises. It is hoped that the government and the medical community can rebuild broken trust and calmly tackle the complex challenge of healthcare reform.